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 NORB  range bags. (See the Gear section.)

Books:

The Prepper’s Cookbook: 300 Recipes to Turn Your Emergency Food into Nutritious, Delicious, Life-Saving Meals. By the way, this book is from Ulysses Press–the folks who publish my novel Patriots.

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Finally!  A “self-help” style book backed by some conservative, religiously-grounded common sense has made it into Amazon’s Top Ten. (It was ranked #1 on Amazon, the last time I checked.) The book is titled: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Movies:

This film has been mentioned before, and I’ll probably mention it (deservedly) again: The Patriot.

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And this is a classic shoot-’em-up drama, from masterful writer/producer John Milius: Dillinger. (Finally available on BluRay!)

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A classic 1929-style [stock market] crash starts with a deep, fast decline. Then comes a recovery of about half the decline, which draws in ‘buy the dip’ investors, fresh meat for the monster ahead. It’s a quick gulp of fresh air before the real crash begins, the Big One, stair-stepping down for a couple of years until it bottoms at a small fraction of the peak, exhausted and depleted. While this probably isn’t the Big One, it could be the initial fracture, or it could be something like the -21% quick correction of 1987.

Will the Big One happen this year? My guess is yes. It’ll rival the Fall of Rome, the Destruction of Carthage, the Black Plague and Al Gore combined. When this huge bubble of insolvent malfeasance ruptures it will be an unstoppable, bloody carnage smashing everything in its path and the birds overhead” – Ol’ Remus, in his Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report blog

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – February 06, 2018

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Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th, 1911. He was an American politician and actor, who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, following a career as an actor and union leader in Hollywood. Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed “Reaganomics”, advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth, control of the money supply to curb inflation, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, escalated the War on Drugs, and opposed public-sector labor unions.

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From Piglets to Bacon- Part 1, by Animal House

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This article is about growing piglets, slaughtering, and butchering hogs. It covers everything we did from start to finish concerning piglets to bacon!

Why a Retired Grandmother Raises Small Livestock

But first, it is important to understand why in the world a retired grandmother would want to raise small livestock. While this article is not about the bad stuff in commercial pork products, I want to list the reasons why I make the effort to raise my own small livestock.

Just for starters, “…synthetic preservatives are added to 70 percent of all factory farmed meat and poultry to prevent spoilage, rancidity and mold growth.” Source:  http://www.wakingtimes.com

“Ractopamine is used in the pork industry. It puts on more muscle, instead of fat, and also puts on weight. Ractopamine is a livestock growth altering drug so dangerous that 160 countries around the world have banned its use. A container of ractopamine has a warning label says, “Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Not for use in humans. Keep out of the reach of children,” and recommends protective clothing, gloves, eye wear and masks.” Source:  http://www.wakingtimes.com

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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 Idaho’s Liberty Legislators group.

Region-Wide:

To begin , there is this, over at the Charles Carroll Society site: American Redoubt responds to @vestal13 #FakeNews published by the Spokesman-Review #idpol

That was in response to this shoddy diatribe: Shawn Vestal: The American Redoubt is alive and well in the Idaho Capitol as ‘Bundy sniper’ receives hero’s welcome. (I’m posting that link only as an example of why The Spokesman-Review is suitable only for birdcage liner.)

Vestal’s  article includes this outright slur: “The Redoubt is more idea than place – a dream of a Western haven for far-right revolutionaries that is not all that different from [Aryan Nations leader] Richard Butler’s view of the region – and every now and then it becomes bracingly clear just how much approval for armed insurrection lives inside that idea.” To conflate the American Redoubt movement with the name of a neo-Nazi and anti-Semite like Richard Butler is the absolute lowest form of political whitewashing. Shawn Vestal could have devoted just a minute or two to fact checking, and learned that Richard Butler died in 2004. And surely Shawn Vestal knows that the American Redoubt movement is outspokenly anti-racist and pro-Israel.  We have made that abundantly clear on countless occasions. Mentioning our movement and Butler in the same breath is more than an un-truth. It is a vicious smear.

We have also never advocated insurrection. (Armed or otherwise.) In fact, we haven’t even advocated states petitioning  for secession. We have only advocated two state partitions within the framework of the Constitutional Union of States. (The same way that West Virginia became a state separate from Virginia.) Yet left wing journalists keep doing their best to regularly paint us a “radicals” with their ever-handy Nazi/KKK brush.

I’m really tired of these lies. I demand that Shawn Vestal print a retraction. – JWR


Idaho (Liberty Legislators)

Next, courtesy of Redoubt News: is full coverage of a recent conclave of Idaho’s Liberty Legislators. Video: 2018 Idaho Legislative Preview.  (The speeches begin at 14:05 mark.)  The first speaker is Representative Priscilla Giddings, who is also a US Air Force Reserve A-10 pilot. It is refreshing to see how the new crop of truly conservative small government Republicans are standing up to the well-entrenched RINO legislators in Boise.  The same political groundswell is just getting started in the other Redoubt States. But it is clear that the spirit of liberty is on the march, throughout the Redoubt region.

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The recently-announced acquisition of GemTech Suppressors (aka Gemini Technologies) of Boise, Idaho by Smith &Wesson seems to have run afoul.  It has been reported that Gem-Tech just filed suit against S&W for breach of contract. The reason? GemTech claims that S&W has only paid about half of the agreed purchase price for the company, in the time allotted, based on the company’s earnings. Further muddying the waters, according to The Firearms Blog  (TFB), “about two months after the public announcement of the sale, CEO Ron Martinez was fired for publicly unknown reasons.”

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Not your average traffic stop: Elk pulled over in north Idaho. JWR’s Comments: I suspect that this is a case of a “hard winter” elk that has been malnourished because of the heavy snow cover this year. She probably didn’t have the strength to jump the fence seen behind her. During hard winters, do your best to not spook or pressure big game into running. Evey calorie of their fat reserves is precious.

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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 water shortage in Capte Town continues to be a source of potential conflict.

Water Shortage

Cape Town is bracing for clashes as the city clamps down on water usage by its occupants. The kind of drought that they are experiencing only happens about once in every 300 years and the water levels are dropping by as much as one percent every day. That means that there is not enough water to bathe and the government is asking residents to use washcloths to clean themselves. They are also asked to flush the toilet only once a day. Thanks to G.P. for the link.

JWR added to Sunday’s update on Cape Town: “Is this a preview of urban life in America in another 10 to 15 years? By the way, the household electric fences seen in this video have a lethal voltage. That would be an invitation to a huge lawsuit in the US or Canada. But it is standard practice in South Africa.”

Educational Straitjacket

A recent study shows that kids are basically born geniuses, but that the educational system destroys imagination. Who would have ever thought that an indoctrination system designed to make children conform to accepted social norms would destroy imagination? The study was commissioned by NASA to help the agency identify and develop creative talent. The researchers were tasked to research school children and attempt to identify creative individuals that the agency could tap to help with their many products. 98 percent of 5-year-olds tested at the “genius” level. By age 10, that number had fallen to only 30 percent. By age 15, only 12 percent tested at that level. Yep, these are the people that will vote in three years. Thanks to G.M. for the link.

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Preparedness Notes for Monday – February 05, 2018

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On February 5th, 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announced his plan to expand the Supreme Court to as many as 15 judges. This unconstitutional move was in response to the hostility that the court held towards his “New Deal”, itself an unconstitutional expansion of government authority. Roosevelt was flushed with his landslide victory in 1936, so Roosevelt pressed his advantage. In April of that year, two justices conceded the high moral ground and capitulated to his demands allowing for a narrow victory on the New Deal. The reorganization was now unnecessary and in July the Senate struck it down, but the damage was already done. By 1942, all but two of the justices were Roosevelt’s appointees setting the stage for the collapse of the checks and balances in the government along with the morally disastrous progressive rulings that have followed.

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2015-2017 SurvivalBlog Annual Archive Update

The greatly expanded SurvivalBlog Archive is on it’s way. We are expecting delivery of the USB sticks this week. We should be set up to take pre-orders later this week, with mailing to begin by the 15th of February, 2018.  This new edition will have substantially more bonus material than the pereious editions.

Ruger’s New Security 9, by Pat Cascio

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Whenever Ruger comes out with a new center handgun, people take notice. The all-new Ruger Security 9, 9mm handgun might just be their best offering yet.

Ruger Security 9 – A Perfect 9mm Handgun For Every Day Carry

Ruger never ceases to come out with more and more, and better and better products. Under review today is the all-new Ruger Security 9– a just perfect 9mm handgun for every day carry.

Many Years Ago

Many years ago, when I was working as a private investigator in Chicago, IL, my wife gifted me with a Ruger Service Six revolver. It had fixed sights, fired .357 Mag and .38 Spl ammo, and was made out of stainless steel. The grip area was a bit skimpy, so I changed the grips out for something more substantial. The gun was an excellent shooter, and I rotated it between my S&W Model 586 quite often. Ruger’s revolver was much lighter in weight than the 585, and that was a good thing in my book. In a moment of weakness, I traded that Service Six for something else. To this day, every now and then, the wife reminds me that a gifted gun is one you keep. I know that, now!

Continue reading“Ruger’s New Security 9, by Pat Cascio”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest 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 Predicting Future Collector Interest. (See the Tangibles Investing sections.)

Precious Metals:

Precious metals prices forecast to rise during 2018, according to survey

 

Commodities:

The Wall Street Journal reports: U.S. Oil Production Tops 10 Million Barrels A Day for First Time Since 1970
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Lower the price of burger and people will eat more of it. But food in total is not elastic. There is really no substitute for calories… There are countless fragilities within our agricultural production, purchasing, processing and distribution system. And remember, food is inelastic. The destruction of [civil] order does not require a 70% reduction in calories. It requires that five percent of the population receive 10% less than they need.” – The Eaton Rapids Joe blog

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – February 04, 2018

On this day in 1789, George Washington became the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. This was repeated again on this same day in 1792. Because of the way the early American voting procedure worked, the electors cast two votes with no distinction for president or vice president. Washington was chosen by all of the electors and is considered to have been unanimously elected. Of the others on the ballots, Adams had the most votes and thus became the vice president.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 75 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

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, 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).

Round 75 ends on March 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.

Rethinking Federal Government Preparedness Resources, by J.P.

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The government can’t always keep you safe, but they can always get you killed. For a long time I’ve held that notion near and dear to my heart only to have it revalidated whenever and wherever calamity strikes our nation. I’m sure there are some bureaucrats that would agree with my opinion. Furthermore, it appears that some people within our government have fought the good fight for the preparedness community when they made available a number of free resources to add to any preparedness library. It just so happens I keep electronic copies of these publications on my smart phone and on a thumb drive, and I have most of them in hard copy as well.

Written for Layperson and Understandable

Each resource provided below is completely open source, unclassified, and generally speaking was written for the layperson. People without specialized technical expertise should find the resources written for professionals understandable and comprehensive in their respective subject. Also, I would encourage people to take these resources at face value and realize that the government wrote them for a specific purpose that may or may not have been entirely for preparedness. Additionally, these resources were picked because they have an acceptable amount of subject matter overlap, without bogging people down with the same information simply reprinted in different sources.

Continue reading“Rethinking Federal Government Preparedness Resources, by J.P.”

Letter: The Real Restrictions of Australia’s Gun Laws on its Citizens

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HJL,

Just wanted to give your readers a taste of what our Australian “Gun Control Act” has meant to law abiding Aussie shooters in light of the articles on “Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban”.

  1. A firearms license is required for all transactions involving firearms, firearm parts (not accessories) and all ammunition sales (license number and amount of ammunition purchased is recorded).
  2. All semi automatic firearms are restricted to an extremely regulated and difficult to obtain Primary Producers License (regardless of caliber).
  3. All handgun licenses are for competition shooting only (or Security Industry), handgun magazines are restricted to 10 rounds maximum, calibers above .357, .38 and 9mm are restricted to members of clubs that shoot silhouette competitions, and range attendance cards must be completed with mandated minimum number of shoots attended per year and per “style” of shoot as your handgun purpose is listed for (IPSC, Western Action, Silhouette etc) and forwarded to Firearms Branch of the State of residence.
  4. Semi automatic and pump action shotguns are again restricted to extremely regulated and difficult to obtain license classes.
  5. Magazine capacity limits on bolt, pump and lever action rifles. Aftermarket magazines restricted to select Brands/Names rather than function, appearance etc.
  6. Conversion kits (ie .45 to .22 caliber) are recorded as a separate firearms not as two parts of the same.
  7. Each state has differing requirements for storage, magazine capacities, license conditions, and one state has a ban on “military style or military appearance” firearms which has immediate seizure of firearms and no allowance to change the stock on a Ruger 77/22 back to a “standard” rifle stock from a “military appearance” one, or then to sell that stock interstate where it is legal.
  8. Firearms are not allowed for personal protection or defense in any form. Lawful, licensed firearm users that have held armed intruders for arrest with their unloaded, lawful firearm have had all their firearms seized and confiscated (including firearms being licensed to their spouse/partner) and have faced months of legal battles for the return of their firearms. If a single firearm is stolen – every firearm is seized by Police regardless if it is locked in a separate safe in a separate room, until their investigation is concluded.
  9. Firearms legislation contains deliberately vague terms such as aforementioned “military appearance” and the term “fit and proper person”. If the Police decide you should not have firearms they will use any history of speeding offenses, parking tickets etc. to demonstrate that you have little to no regard for the law, and therefore are not a “fit and proper person” to hold a firearms license.
  10.  As per usual we face a hostile media who allow Gun Control Advocates unrestricted open forum discussions to put forward their views, opinions and “facts”, and when their “facts” are exposed as lies no retractions are made or one sentence is buried in a report or in the back pages of a newspaper to correct those “facts”.

Please, please, please be vigilant and call for restrictive gun laws and control measures to be repealed, value your freedoms enshrined in The Constitution, and don’t ever let things get to the stage that they are here in Oz.

Cheers, – Aussie Shooter.

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 water shortage in South Africa continues to get worse.

Lost Domesticated Plants

Archaeologists have discovered several seed caches throughout the Americas that indicate certain plants had been domesticated that are now just growing wild and considered wild edibles. This is an interesting development and brings up several concepts for food production that you have to wonder about. In today’s world of GMO crops, can they be domesticated again? How hardy are they compared to modern seed? This might be something to think about. Thanks to F.M. for the link.

Parasites

Reader J.C. sent in this article on an increase in parasites that children have picked up on the playground. No, we’re not talking about politics here. This is roundworms and the eggs are shed in feces by stray dogs (and cats) and get ingested by children playing in the dirt. The parasite can interfere with breathing, liver function, eyesight and even intelligence. Since the parasite infection has not been much of an issue in the past, little research has been done on it and most doctors are unaware of it. Yet another reason to get out of the city. While the parasite lives everywhere in North America, it is especially prevalent in conditions where there is congestion of both humans and animals. Obviously, poorer communities are hit harder with it.

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