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 direction of the housing market in 2020. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

First up today, over at Zero Hedge: Serbia, Slovakia Join Sudden Eastern European Gold Repatriation Push. (A hat tip to H.L. for the link.)

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Gary Christenson: Gold and the Lender of Last Resort

Economy & Finance:

Charles S. Sanford of the Kansas City Fed: Financial Markets in 2020

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A Real Vision video interview: Ominous Clouds Forming in China’s Economic Data (w/ Leland Miller)

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Top economist lowers recession risk for 2020, but says hurdles remain

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“By the side of these religious men I discern others whose looks are turned to the earth more than to Heaven; they are the partisans of liberty, not only as the source of the noblest virtues, but more especially as the root of all solid advantages; and they sincerely desire to extend its sway, and to impart its blessings to mankind. It is natural that they should hasten to invoke the assistance of religion, for they must know that liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith; but they have seen religion in the ranks of their adversaries, and they inquire no further; some of them attack it openly, and the remainder are afraid to defend it.”  – Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — December 5, 2019

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Today is the birthday of film-maker Walt Disney. (1901–1966)

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On December 5th, 1964, the first Medal of Honor awarded to a serviceman for action in Vietnam was presented to Capt. Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York. Captain Donlon and his Special Forces team were manning Camp Nam Dong, a mountain outpost near the borders of Laos and North Vietnam. Just before two o’clock in the morning on July 6, 1964, hordes of Viet Cong attacked the camp. He was shot in the stomach, but Donlon stuffed a handkerchief into the wound, cinched up his belt, and kept fighting. He was wounded three more times, but he continued fighting–manning a mortar, throwing grenades at the enemy, and refusing medical attention.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 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 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 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.
  3. 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,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  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).
  7. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 86 ends on January 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.

Planning Your Escape – Part 3, by JMD

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(Continued from Part 3.)

Upon Arrival

Once you arrive at your destination the next phase of Return To Base (RTB) preparations begins. Note that I’m assuming you’re at a hotel or rental property – if you’re staying with friends or family you should adjust accordingly. The first thing I do when I arrive is fill up a 5L water bottle. That way I have immediate access to clean water if something takes the infrastructure down. If an event occurs I can quickly fill my hydration bladder and other water bottles from that before heading out. The morning I leave, I empty the 5L bottle out and put it in my luggage with the top off to let it dry out. I could fill all of my individual containers, but then I’d have to empty them and worry about drying several containers out instead of just one.

Next I unpack my suitcase and transfer anything I might need for RTB travel (and couldn’t have on my person while en route) into my backpack or on my person. This means I have to spend a few minutes re-packing everything on the day I’m leaving, but doing this allows me to just grab one bag, fill my water containers and be on my way if an event occurs. If I have a rental car I toss my backpack into the trunk when I’m out and about so if I’m far away from my hotel when an event occurs I still have a good kit without having to go back. You could also toss a second filled 5L water bag in the trunk for the duration of your trip.

Once I’m done shuffling stuff around I take a walk around the building I’m staying in. I look out the windows in my room and see if I can use that for egress in an emergency (I always ask for a lower floor room). Then I leave the room and walk around to locate all of the emergency stairwells and exits, counting the steps to the closest ones in case I have to do it in dark or smoke. I walk around inside the building to locate other possible exits on the ground floor, then around the outside to figure out where everything comes out.

Once I have my bearings for the building I start to walk my planned route away from my lodging. Walk as far as you comfortably can, and consider driving more of the route later on to get familiar with it. Finding out about washed-out bridges or other obstacles allows you to adjust your route planning before you actually need to use it. You should always have a detailed map of your destination area with you so you can figure out possible alternatives in case your primary route is blocked. I usually buy one of the Streetwise laminated maps for my destination, but most hotels will happily provide you with a free tourist map at the front desk.

If you couldn’t bring all of your required equipment or supplies with you, you should use your route familiarization explorations to locate local stores or facilities where you could obtain them in an emergency and plan options on how to get to each of them. I typically focus on camping/outdoor stores, bicycles shops and gun shops, since I can’t always travel fully stocked for a long return journey. You should also try to locate smaller local shops instead of big chain stores, since the smaller shops are a lot more likely to continue conducting business if the power and Internet are down.Continue reading“Planning Your Escape – Part 3, by JMD”

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 “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 a claimed Jeep copycat.

UK Bridge Terrorists Had Been Released

Linked over at the great Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Fellow Terrorist of London Bridge Attack Also Released Early, Also Plotted Attack. Oh, and in related news: there was also this odd tidbit:

“A quick-thinking bystander who was inside London’s Fishmonger’s Hall when a deadly terrorist attack began grabbed a 5′ narwhal tusk off the wall and helped subdue a knife-wielding man who killed two pedestrians on London Bridge.

The attacker, said to be a recently-released terrorist prisoner believed to be wearing a fake suicide vest and a tracking tag, was taken down by the tusk-wielding hero and a man with a fire extinguisher before police shot him dead.”

104-Year-Old Wisconsin Mom Bags Her First Buck

H.L. was tge first of several readers who sent this: 104-Year-Old Wisconsin Mom Bags Her First Buck. Here is a quote:

“Bill Teeters said his 104-year-old mom, Florence, told him last year she wanted to get a hunting license. This week, she got her wish and accompanied him during a hunt on their land in Price County, according to NBC 15.

“I took mom out to the blind this year. I had a nice chair for her and it was nice and warm,” said Bill, who is the youngest of Florence’s five children.

“A little after 4 p.m., a buck shows up about 30 yards away. I tapped her on the knee and I pointed. She nodded and smiled and was real quiet. Then she took the shot!”

Florence is reportedly the oldest person to date to purchase a gun deer license and actually bag a deer, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Go Wild database.”

The Great Hind Heist

My old friend Fred the Valmetmeister sent us a link to a fascinating video: The Hind Heist – The Secret US Operation to Steal the Soviet’s Top HelicopterContinue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — December 4, 2019

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December 4th is the birthday of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, (born 1912) an AVG “Flying Tiger” volunteer pilot for the Chinese Nationalist government, WWII Marine Corps aviator, and Medal of Honor recipient. (He died January 11, 1988.) A proto-Redoubter, Pappy Boyington was born in Couer d’Alene, Idaho and was raised in Spokane, Washington.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 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 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 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.
  3. 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,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  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).
  7. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 86 ends on January 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.

Planning Your Escape – Part 2, by JMD

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(Continued from Part 1.)

Using Google or Bing maps provides you with an initial idea of what the route and terrain for a journey home might look like, but it’s far from the end of your planning. While these maps provide information on roads and walking paths, they don’t include details on possible alternatives like railroad tracks and waterways.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the use of railroad tracks for travel in a post-SHTF world. On the plus side railways tend to be more isolated from built-up areas, so you may stand a better chance of avoiding people, and they tend avoid steep climbs and drops, which should make traveling somewhat easier. On the other hand, if you’ve ever tried walking a railroad track you know how difficult it can be to comfortably match your stride to the spacing of the ties, and if you need to run you’ll probably end up tripping. It’s also virtually impossible to ride a bike on railroad tracks without rattling your teeth out. Some railroad tracks have a right-of-way dirt road that parallels it that allows for maintenance access, so that may simplify using them for RTB travel.

Another potential advantage of knowing the railways along your route is that railroad bridges can provide an alternative for crossing rivers and other terrain obstacles that may help you avoid trouble on road bridges. Regardless of your view of railroad tracks as a possible route, I’d recommend being aware of where the tracks are along your intended route in case you need to use them. The Open Railway Map Project provides detailed maps of railroad tracks all over the world (both in-use and abandoned), and I include snapshots of the lines along my RTB route as part of my planning documents. Note that the web site is pretty slow to load, so be patient if you use it. If you find it useful for planning, please consider making a donation to help keep it running (I’m not affiliated with it in any way – I just find it to be a useful resource).Continue reading“Planning Your Escape – Part 2, by JMD”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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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 Tintin books and movie.

Books:

Now considered politically incorrect, these cartoon format book were some of the favorites of my kids, from around ages 8 to 15: Tintin Paperback Boxed Set (23 titles)

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Always fascinating reading: Guinness World Records 2020

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Polar Vortex: A Novel

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DIY Lithium Batteries: How to Build Your Own Battery Packs

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RV Living: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to RV Living Full-time

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If the book is good, is about something that you know, and is truly written, and reading it over you see that this is so, you can let the boys yip and the noise will have that pleasant sound coyotes make on a very cold night when they are out in the snow and you are in your own cabin that you have built or paid for with your work.” – Ernest Hemingway

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — December 3, 2019

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Today is the birthday of actor Brendan Fraser (born, 1968.) He often plays “fish out of water” roles. Preppers of course remember him from Blast From The Past.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 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 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 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.
  3. 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,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  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).
  7. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 86 ends on January 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.

Planning Your Escape – Part 1, by JMD

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In a previous article in SurvivalBlog I wrote about things you could do to help you survive when you’re on the road and traveling. The focus of that article was on what skills, supplies and activities you should consider to increase your chances of surviving while you’re away from home for any period of time, but I received feedback from several folks that the article didn’t really provide much information about how to actually get back home if an event did occur. The goal of this article is to address that gap and provide some ideas and suggestions for planning on how to get back home if you’re away when a significant event occurs, which I’ll refer to a ‘Return to Base (RTB)’ planning. This type of Get Home Bag planning I’ll be focusing on is for large-scale events that impact all or most of the country. Options for smaller regional events where help will eventually show up is what I focused on in my previous article.

One quick note – I use the words ‘acquire’ and ‘obtain’ a number of times throughout this article, and I’d like to avoid a flame war regarding the legality and morality of how you can get hold of required supplies and equipment after an event. I carry gold and silver coins and a stash of cash whenever I travel, so I’m pretty comfortable that I can legally get hold of what I need in an emergency. I know a lot of folks emphatically argue that any form of scavenging or scrounging is nothing more than theft and that they would never do it, but I believe everyone will need to evaluate their own unique situation relative to the circumstances the find themselves in and balance their need to get back home to their family against their moral compass.

[JWR Adds: As previously discussed at length in the SurvivalBlog, “scavenging” would only be justifiable following a massive die-off, where lots of property is truly abandoned, and no heirs could ever be located. In any lesser situation, it is outright theft. There is also the issue of crop gleaning, but morally that can only be done with expressed permission, or permissive signage.]

Why RTB Plan?

Most people tend to at least occasionally take trips away from their home. Unless you’re the kind of person that never gets further than a mile or two from your homestead, there’s always a chance that a major SHTF event can occur while you’re away, and the more time you’re away, the greater the chance that an event will occur while you’re gone. Unfortunately for most people travel is so commonplace that they tend to not think about its ramifications. I recently had a conversation regarding emergency preparations with an acquaintance that commuted back and forth to work – her office was about 20 driving miles away, and it usually takes her about an hour to drive each way. She has a typical office drone job and dresses in decent business clothes for her commute. I asked her how she would get home if major event occurred while she was at work (EMP/CME, earthquake, civil breakdown, etc.) and she couldn’t drive, and she responded that it was “only an hour away” and that she could easily walk that. She had no concept of the actual distance involved, potential weather conditions, roadblocks or any of the other hundreds of factors that could prevent her from ever making it home.Continue reading“Planning Your Escape – Part 1, by JMD”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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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 a major Wyoming interstate freeway closure. (See the Wyoming section.)

Idaho

Idaho school district buys rifles, will warn visitors building is ‘armed’. The article begins:

“The Garden Valley School District is arming itself and a handful of staff members with guns in case of potential security threats moving forward.

According to the district’s school board minutes, the district has purchased four rifles and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.

The district is also considering spending up to $2,000 to purchase extra magazine[s,] rounds and body armor vests, according to school board documents. Each rifle was purchased for $680.”

JWR’s Comment: Hmmmm. Rifles with a $680 pricetag. I’ll bet that those are Rifles of Color.

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T.Z. suggested this from Reason.com: Boise’s New Stadium Referendum Requirement Should Be a Model for Other Cities

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Status conference set for county v. city gun suit

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Pure democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” – James Madison, Federalist # 10, November 22, 1787

Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 2, 2019

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On December 2nd, 1823, what became known as the Monroe Doctrine was declared by President James Monroe to Congress outlining a foreign policy initiative that forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts.

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Michael Z. Williamson (our Editor At Large) is a prolific science fiction writer and anthologist. His latest anthology, Freehold: Resistance, will be released tomorrow, December 3, 2019. It will be available both in paperback and Kindle formats. I’m confident that it will be greatly enjoyed by sci-fi fans as well as by anyone interested in resistance warfare. There is some coarse language, so this anthology is not for kids.

I plan to post a full review of this book once I’ve completed reading it, in a few days.

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Today, another product review from our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.  But first, here are the results of the writing contest judging for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog Nonfiction Writing Contest.