The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, an estimate on full capacity magazine ownership.

700 Million+ Full Capacity Mags in Private Hands

Reader H.L. sent us this:  Americans Own 700 Million+ Mags With Greater Than 10-Round Capacity. JWR’s Comments:  That equates to just two magazines per citizen. Really? Based on the number of magazines that I own, my estimate of the number that my friends and neighbors own, and what I see available at gun shows, I believe that this published estimate is quite low. In fact, it is probably understated by at least half. And of course the NSSF data did not include the huge number of magazines released as military and police department surplus.  I’d estimate that there are actually 1.5 to 2 billion magazines now in private hands, here in the States. For further research, see the original NSSF report.

Be Prepared — The Grid Is Going Down

A few months ago, Tucker Carlson interviewed Dennis Quaid: Be Prepared. The Grid Is Going Down.

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — April 17, 2024

On April 17, 1970, the Apollo 13 command module—carrying James A. Lovell, Jr., Fred W. Haise, Jr., and John L. Swigert, Jr.—entered Earth‘s atmosphere and splashed down, ending one of the most tense chapters in space history; four days earlier an oxygen tank had exploded, threatening the lives of the three astronauts.

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On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Due to the Cuba/Soviet intelligence network as well as loose talk by members of the brigade, which was repeated in US and foreign newspaper reports, the Cuban government knew, in advance, of the planned invasion. The Washington Post also reported that the Soviets knew the exact date of the attack, that the CIA was aware that they knew, and that the CIA did not inform President Kennedy.

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With the generosity of a sponsor, we’ve just added a new prize to the Second Place prize package for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest:

A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.

They are adding new products every week. Take a look at their web page. And if you place an order, please thank them for being a SurvivalBlog writing contest sponsor.

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Today’s feature article is by SurvivalBlog feature article is by Senior Editor James Wesley, Rawles.

Reviving The Moribund 10th Amendment

One of the greatest strengths of our system of government is our Bill of Rights. The first 10 Amendments limit the power of the government. Though it is not perfect, this system has kept government in check, in several key spheres. The 10th Amendment is succinct, yet powerful.  It reads:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Sadly, the 10th Amendment has been degraded in the past 50 years by power-hungry statists. The American people are now over-taxed and over-regulated. The regulations penned by Congress are bad enough, but those emanating from international treaties, presidential executive orders, and decrees from unelected bureaucrats have become odious.  If our founding fathers were alive to see just how strong the Federal government has become, and how it encroaches into so many aspects of our lives, they would be horrified. Even the most strident Federalist of the 1780s would be shocked to see just how arbitrary and despotic our national government has become. The advent of the “alphabet soup” agencies since the 1930s has radically centralized the government’s power and subverted the rights of the states, and the rights of the citizenry.Continue reading“Reviving The Moribund 10th Amendment”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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U.S. Navy Mocked for Photo of Commander With Rifle Scope Mounted Backwards. JWR’s Comments:  Perhaps the Navy should stick to their time-proven M14 deck rifles with iron sights. Thankfully, our potential opponents have much bigger guns and missiles to worry about, and the Navy handles those with deadly competency.

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I expect to hear the announcement of a Starlink satellite phone service, later this year: SpaceX: Cellular Starlink System Works on iPhone, Pixel, Galaxy Devices.

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Peter mentioned the free set of PDF files available at this web page:  USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.  Peter included this note: “It would be nice if it was a single PDF, but the content is free.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — April 16, 2024

April 16, 1746: Battle of Culloden, the last battle on British soil: Royalist troops under the Duke of Cumberland defeat the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart. The Jacobite Rising — which began a year before — was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart.

April 16th is the birthday of two notable novelists– the late J. Neil Schulman (pictured) and Samuel Youd.

Agorist-Libertarian activist J. Neil Schulman (born April 16, 1953, died 2019) was best known as author of the novel Alongside Night.

The late Samuel Youd (born 1922, died February 3, 2012) was the British novelist who was best known for his science fiction writings under the pseudonym John Christopher, including the survivalist novel Death of Grass (titled No Blade of Grass, in the American edition) as well as the Tripods Series of young adult sci-fi novel series. A fascinating man, Youd wrote prolifically, using eight pen names. He was a good friend of sci-fi novelist John Wyndham, and both of them were famous for writing what are often called “cozy catastrophes”.

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We are seeking entries for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 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.

Upcoming ATF Rule Will Ban Most Private Gun Sales

The ATF’s new re-definition of “Engaged in the Business” of selling firearms is expected to go into effect on or about May 15th. The ATF’s Final Rulemaking was announced on April 8, 2024.  Ignoring the weight of public comment, and ignoring logic, this new set of rules (see text at the ATF website) could make advertising and selling just one gun at a profit without a FFL a felony criminal offense.  Even worse, it shifts the burden of proof from the government to individuals. In effect, you will be assumed to be guilty unless you can prove that you made no profit. Given the ongoing onslaught of currency inflation, just breaking even after allowing for inflation could be deemed a “profit”.

This new rule, which is 466-pages long, stems from the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which broadened the definition of when someone is considered “engaged in the business”. Creepy Joe Biden signed this law on June 25, 2022. By abusing Chevron deference, the ATF’s minions then created this 466-page monstrosity, to wildly extrapolate just 73 words from the 1968 Gun Control Act into this lengthy set of rules.Continue reading“Upcoming ATF Rule Will Ban Most Private Gun Sales”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, an examination of the much-publicized  “Idaho ISIS” case. (See the Idaho section.)

Idaho

FBI arrests Idaho 18-year-old for ‘violent plot’ to attack churches on behalf of ISIS, Justice Department says. (A hat tip to reader C.B. for the link.)

  • Charging documents are here.
  • This article has some relevant details from the document.
  • J.M., a SurvivalBllog reader from the CDA area also wrote to mention: “An FBI informant drove the kid to the hardware store to get a pipe and butane cylinders, and took the photo of him in front of the ISIS flag.”
  • Idaho ISIS suspect’s arrest highlights how ‘crypto is increasingly popular’ with extremist groups, expert says.  [The statist mainstream media never misses an opportunity to denigrate [private cryptocurrencies.]
  • The three FBI informants were driving this delusional and impressionable kid around, because he didn’t have a driver’s license!  They also provided him the ISIS flag. This is as close to a “manufactured terrorism conspiracy” as you can get. When three of the four conspirators are paid FBI informants, it is almost surely a set-up. I’ll be curious to learn if any of the three FBI informants plotted with the suspect before he turned 18. – JWR

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Supreme Court lets Idaho enforce its ban on gender treatments for minors.

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MARVEL: Idaho National Laboratory’s first nuclear reactor in 50 years.

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85-Year-Old Mom With .357 Magnum Kills Intruder to Save Her Disabled Son.

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A young north Idaho couple demonstrates what can be accomplished with Sweat Equity on a hillside parcel, with a stringent budget: Idaho Mountain Homestead: 3 Year Update.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“We like market research because it provides certainty – a score, a prediction; if someone asks us why we made the decision we did, we can point to a number. But the truth is that for the most important decisions, there can be no certainty.” – Malcolm Gladwell

Preparedness Notes for Monday — April 15, 2024

On April 15, 1989, a small group of students initiated a pro-democracy protest on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The death of reformer Hu Yaobang triggered the demonstrations, which grew in size and were brutally dispersed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4.

April 15th is traditionally Tax Day, but I prefer to remember it as Roy Clark‘s birthday. He was born April 15, 1933.

April 15th, 1912, is the anniversary of the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic. 1,517 people lost their lives on the maiden voyage. As research into the incident has progressed over the last 100 years, it seems as if, one way or another, the ship was just going to sink. Impact with an iceberg, raging coal fires in the fuel supply, wrong turns, locked-up binoculars, weak rivets, too few lifeboats, and more. Perhaps this whole incident was really the result of man’s hubris.

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Today’s feature article is by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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I just added 16 Federally-exempt guns to my Elk Creek Company online inventory. There is no FFL required to order, and these guns can go right to your doorstep sans papiere, in most states. Take a look!

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Going,  going… We are now down to only 62 waterproof 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog Archive USB sticks. I’ve reduced the price on those remaining sticks to $28.95, to ensure that they sell out quickly. Consider this your last call until late January 2025, when the next edition should become available. There will be no more produced this year!

Taurus TX22 Model 241, by Thomas Christianson

It is said that time flies when you are having fun. In that sense, the Taurus TX22 is a time machine. I can pick it up at the range, and suddenly find myself transported two fun-filled hours into the future.

One factor that makes the TX22 fun is its magazine size. Chambered in 22LR, the TX22 holds 16 rounds in its magazine. This sets it apart from most other 22LR handguns, which can only hold 10 rounds in their magazines. This makes a mag dump with a TX22 more fun than a mag dump with a typical handgun chambered in 22LR.

A second factor that makes the TX22 fun is cost. With a length of 7.06 inches, a height of 5.44 inches, and a width of 1.25 inches, the TX22 Model 241 is approximately the same size as a typical self-defense handgun like the Glock 19. But with a cost of less than 10 cents a round for 22LR versus more than 25 cents a round for 9mm, a mag dump with a TX22 is significantly more fun and justifiable than a mag dump with a typical self-defense handgun.Continue reading“Taurus TX22 Model 241, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Poverty Soup

The following simple recipe for “Poverty Soup” — a hamburger-vegetable soup is from SurvivalBlog reader F.C.. It serves four adults. To save money, home-grown tomatoes and vegetables can be used instead, if you are a veggie gardener.

Ingredients
  • 1 to 1-1/2 lbs of ground beef (or venison, or ground turkey)
  • 1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes and green chilies (or Rotel)
  • 16 oz. package of frozen mixed vegetables
  • 6-8 potatoes, peeled and diced to spoon size
  • 1 small onion diced, or equivalent in dehydrated onion flakes.
  • 6 beef bouillon cubes
  • 8 cups water
  • Salt, to taste
  • Pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Brown meat on stove top and drain grease.
  2. Combine all ingredients.
  3. Heat over low for about an hour.
  4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Crockpot Variation

This simple recipe can also be cooked in a crockpot. Just brown the meat first and combine all ingredients in your crockpot. Cook on the low setting for 6-to-8 hours.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows States with the Highest and Lowest Per Capita State Income Taxes.  Note that this map uses data from 2015. Taxes have increased substantially since then, but the relative differences between the states are still about the same. (Graphic courtesy of Maptitude / Caliper.com.)

The thumbnail image below is click-expandable, for detailed viewing.

 

 

 

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Please send your graphic ideas to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.