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. This week the focus is on the writings of former U.S. Navy SEAL Matt Bracken. (See the Books section.)

Books:

Reader Allen A. highly recommended the book Forty Years in the Wilderness, by Dolly Faulkner

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The Bracken Collection: Essays and Short Fiction 2010 to 2019

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Also by Matt Bracken: Enemies Foreign and Domestic

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Bushcraft Illustrated: A Visual Guide, by Dave Canterbury. (Thanks to Tim J. for the suggestion.)

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This is worthy of a follow-up mention: Unfreedom of the Press, by Mark Levin.  (Now in its fourth week at or very near the top of both the NYT bestsellers list and Amazon’s bestsellers list.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“Let every man, every corporation, and especially let every village, town, and city, every county and State, get out of debt and keep out of debt. It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times.” – President Rutherford Hayes

 

 

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 18, 2019

June 18th is birthday of Pastor Douglas Wilson. Born in 1953, he is the pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho and a prodigious author of books and articles on Reformed theology.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. 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 83 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.

Perimeter Defense Part 1, by L.K.R.

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Unless you plan to live off the land in the middle of nowhere, then you will have some type of shelter. Regardless of location, your homestead can be threatened and you need to plan for security.  Some key security considerations include:

  • Physical Barriers
  • Surveillance
  • Communications
  • Defensive Equipment
  • Tactics

These elements need to be considered for three layers or rings of defense:

  • Perimeter (property boundary)
  • Structural (building exterior)
  • Interior (within the structure)

In a true SHTF situation, controlling your perimeter is the most critical. We normally think of security in an orderly society where people are living independently, utilities are functioning and first responders are available within 5 – 20 minutes. Under these conditions, your job is to defend the family until the cavalry arrives. You achieve this by preventing a break-in if possible or keeping your loved ones protected within a safe location – using deadly force if necessary.

In a situation where the police aren’t coming any time soon (or at all) and critical services are limited (food, water, sanitation, energy) – you face a vastly different problem. While the threat may still be from an individual kicking in the door, it is very likely that a group will be looking to steal your resources without regard for your life. If you and your family plan on going it alone in this scenario, please think through the implications. A family unit does not have the resources for 24-hour security and you are likely to be defending from inside the home.

Continue reading“Perimeter Defense Part 1, by L.K.R.”

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. Today, we focus on a recent bison birth, caught on camera. (See the Wyoming section.)

Idaho

Officials say 243 Command Fire could become the new normal

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Case of Idaho woman killed in seed plant goes back to court

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Bonners Ferry: Double graduation for local student

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

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

16

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”.  Today, we return to the topic of the growing Internet censorship campaign.

New Writing Contest Prize!

We’ve just added a new prize to the Third Prize package, in our bi-monhtly writing contest: Three sets each of regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This new prize is courtesy of the fine folks at Harvest Guard. Their products are made here in USA. This prize has a $270 value.

Millions of Pigs in Asia Culled

More about the current spread of African Swine Fever: Millions of pigs in Asia culled as African swine fever spreads. (Thanks to G.P. for the link.)

Medal of Honor Award Announced

Reader SOG mentioned this in The Army Times:  Medal of Honor announced for soldier who fought through three floors of insurgents in Fallujah. Here is a quote:

“The president will award the Medal of Honor on June 25 to a soldier who fought through a nest of insurgents during the second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, the White House officially announced Monday.

Then-Staff Sgt. David G. Bellavia originally received the Silver Star for his actions, but his citation was revisited as part of a review of valor awards and determined worthy of the nation’s highest combat award.

The award will give Bellavia one of now seven Operation Iraqi Freedom Medals of Honor, and make him the only living recipient from the Iraq War.

During the battle, Bellavia single-handedly killed multiple insurgents, including one during hand-to-hand combat.

A squad leader at the time, Bellavia, now 43, was clearing a block of buildings when his platoon was pinned down on Nov. 10, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq.”

Google Search Manipulation Update

Video: Google vs DuckDuckGo — Search engine manipulation, censorship and why you should switch.  JWR’s Comment:  I use Start Page as my default search engine, because it is has neutral, unfiltered search results and it maintains no search histories!

And here is a quite recent example, showing their ongoing manipulation: Google Protecting Jussie Smollett From ‘Disparaging’ Searches

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 17, 2019

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June 17th is the birthday of musician Red Foley (born, 1910, died September 19, 1968). His patriotic song Smoke on the Water topped the music charts for 13 weeks in late 1944 and early 1945, and charted for 24 weeks. This song, which describes the doom of tyrants, would be considered quite politically incorrect these days.

This is also the birthday of Libertarian economist Harry Browne.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 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.

Ruger AR-556 Pistol, by Pat Cascio

6

One of the hottest trends going these days, are AR-15 pistols, since the BATF in their finite wisdom re-decided that an arm braced pistol can be shouldered from time to time. (Prior to this, if you shouldered an AR-type of pistol, with an arm brace on it, you were deemed to be “redesigning” it and breaking Federal law.) But if you actually strapped on an arm brace, it was nearly impossible to get the AR pistols up near your face, for a proper sight picture. So, many folks were tucking the arm brace under their arm and firing it that way – sort of a spray and pray thing. This an ineffective a waste of ammo.

I’ve review a couple other AR pistols over the past year, and they are great shooters, with the arm brace installed. One had an adjustable arm brace, and one was fixed-position. To be sure, the adjustable arm brace is better. At first glance, you will think that these AR pistols have a buttstock on them – they do NOT! They are still designed to be wrapped around the forearm. However, some of these arm braces are outstanding in their design, and you can easily shoulder them.

Today, we’re looking at the newest offering from Ruger, and they call this one their AR-556 pistol. Many uneducated folks will think you are firing an SBR (Short Barreled Rifle) when they see the 10.5-barrel on the AR-556. But it is still classified as a pistol, because of the arm brace and this meets all BATF rules and regulations for a pistol. Keep in mind that, because this is still considered a pistol, you can NOT put a vertical forward mounted pistol grip on the forearm of this handgun, if you did, you would be breaking Federal law.Continue reading“Ruger AR-556 Pistol, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Mary L.’s Buttery Cornbread

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Reader Mary L. kindly sent us one of her favorite recipes. This is for a cornbread with a great buttery taste. This recipe works well with storage cornmeal and storage white flour. Note: This recipe does not work quite as well with freshly-ground whole wheat flour.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup all-purpose white flour (a “spooned and leveled” cup)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted but cooled slightly
  • 1/3 cup (packed) of dark brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons of honey
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 large egg, room temperature

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease and lightly flour a 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set that dry ingredients mixture aside.
  3. For the wet ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and honey together until completely smooth.
  4. Whisk in the egg until combined.
  5. Whisk in the buttermilk. Pour the wet ingredients into the larger dry ingredients bowl and whisk until combined. (but do not over-mix.)
  6. Pour batter into a prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top and the center is cooked through. (Use toothpick to test.) The edges should now be crispy.
  7. Allow the cornbread to cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Serving & Storage

  • Serve with butter, jam, or honey.
  • Any leftovers should be allowed to cool completely before then being stored at room temperature in a plastic zipper bag or other airtight container for up to six days. It is rare for any to be left over any longer. But if there are, then they should be composted or fed to your chickens.

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the possibility of investing in a scarce M1A1 Carbine. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold Price Going To $1,700 Soon Says Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones – Bloomberg

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Indian Gold Demand Surged In April And May

Economy & Finance:

And at Seeking Alpha: The Risk Of A Market Crash Abates – For Now. JWR’s Comment: We are still witnessing an over-valued market.  Prudence dictates that you reduce your stock exposure to only recession-proof stocks, ASAP!  The clear, time-proven warning signal of an inverted yield curve should not be ignored. A recession is probably coming, soon.

o  o  o

From economic commentator Brandon Smith: The Trade War Is About To Become An Economic World War III

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Federal Spending Tops $3 Trillion Through May for First Time; Deficit Hits $738 Billion

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — June 16, 2019

1

On June 16, 1980 the musical comedy film The Blues Brothers debuted in Chicago. It was very successful in its theatrical release, and has had a cult-like following as a home video.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 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.

Prepared Off-Road Motorcycle Riding, by Jeff Hower

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Riding an off-road or crossover motorcycle into parts unknown can be an exhilarating experience. But these off-the-beaten-track areas can also lead to catastrophe if one is not prepared to deal with failures of body or equipment. Preparing yourself and your equipment prior to an expedition for any of many possible malfunctions is only common sense. Most of common sense is having experienced or seen it happen before, and learning from it.

Zip Code riders–that is, people who never ride out of their zip code, will probably not need much of the information presented here. But if you are one of the many riders that are out to explore, then hopefully some of this will be good information for you.

The area you ride will dictate to some extent what you need. Assuming your that  bike runs well, it needs fuel. Riding in the US and east of the Mississippi River you will probably never be more than 100 miles from a gas station. However out west, Canada, Mexico and most of the rest of the yet to be developed world will put you in a situation where refueling can be an issue. Get a big fuel tank if your bike doesn’t already have one. Carry a siphon hose and never pass a gas station if your tank is half-full. Carry some cash in small denominations. While on the Trans Labrador Highway in Canada there was one stretch where there is no fuel for 250 miles and even on I-70 west of Green River, Utah there is no fuel for 100 miles. Continue reading“Prepared Off-Road Motorcycle Riding, by Jeff Hower”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

28

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”.  Today, we look at New York’s vague “gravity knife” ban.

Vague Knife Ban Case Goes to Supreme Court

Reader G.P. suggested this by attorney Eugene Volokh: Knife Ban and Vagueness Case at Supreme Court Conference

PG&E Cuts Power to Reduce Wildfire Risks

PG&E cuts power in Northern California to reduce wildfire risks. JWR’s Comment:  Of course without power, unless rural landowners have gravity-fed water (which is a rarity), they would be without water to wet down around their houses, to be ready for an approaching fire. This is all the more reason to have an independent power system!

20 Everyday Tasks that Nobody Does Anymore

Reader DSV sent this piece by Kim Komando: 20 everyday tasks that nobody does anymore.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”