The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“There are two kinds of people on earth to-day;
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the sinner and saint, for it’s well understood,
The good are half bad, and the bad are half good.

Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man’s wealth,
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the humble and proud, for in life’s little span,
Who puts on vain airs, is not counted a man.

Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.

No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift, and the people who lean.

Wherever you go, you will find the earth’s masses,
Are always divided in just these two classes.

And oddly enough, you will find too, I ween,
There’s only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load,
Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road?

Or are you a leaner, who lets others share
Your portion of labor, and worry and care?”
– Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Bell & Howell TacLight Lantern/Flashlight Combo, by Pat Cascio

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When the lights go out, we usually reach for a flashlight. However, there are much better forms of portable light. Today we check out the TacLight lantern and flashlight. They are winners.

I’ve owned many LED lanterns over the years, some were really bad, and some were a bit more than okay, when it came to giving us light, when the lights went out. Living in the boonies, we lose electricity quite often from trees falling on power lines because of heavy snow, rain, and winds. It just comes with living out in the country, and we are usually the last to get the lights back on. The nearby towns get power first.

We have small, high intensity flashlights within reach in every room in our house, and they work great. However, when you need something hands-free, the flashlight isn’t always your best or first choice. We used a small battery-powered fluorescent lantern for a lot of years, it threw a lot of light, and operated on those great big 6-volt lantern batteries. The problem was with those lanterns was that while they threw a lot of light, the batteries didn’t last long at all – a couple hours at best. This is because filament light bulbs draw a tremendous amount of current compared to modern LEDs. Also, the batteries were bulky, heavy, and never lasted more than a year just sitting on the shelf.

We used another LED lantern that had tiny LED lights in the bottom of it, and a cone shaped mirror, that reflected the light – not a bad choice, but not a great choice, either. It didn’t shed enough light to light-up the smallest room. However, it did last a good long time – on “D” sized batteries and it was better than candles – and of course safer, too.

The TacLight Combo

I’m sure many of our readers have seen the television commercials for the Bell & Howell TacLight lantern. These commercials play all the time. I was more than a little impressed with what I saw in the commercials, but still had my doubts. All these products we see in these “as seen on TV” commercials usually aren’t as well-made as advertised. A couple that do live up to the hype are the Flex-Seal and some of those cooking pans that have a special coating that prevents foods from sticking.

Continue reading“Bell & Howell TacLight Lantern/Flashlight Combo, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Yogurt Ranch Dressing

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Okie Ranch Wife’s Yogurt Ranch Dressing

This yogurt ranch dressing is a pantry-friendly recipe. I have made it several times already and it is always gone quickly. What I like about making this recipe is that you choose what you put into it. I stay away from commercial products like mayonnaise that has soy or canola oil in the ingredients. You can make your own mayonnaise using just olive oil. You can also make your own yogurt and apple cider vinegar.

This recipe easily doubles or triples.

 

Ingredients

½ cup Plain Yogurt (not Greek style)

2 Tbsp Mayonnaise

1 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

½ Tsp Garlic Powder

½ Tsp Sea Salt

½ Tsp White or Black Pepper

1 Tbsp dried Parsley

1 Tbsp Chives

1 Tsp dried Dill Weed

 

Directions

Thoroughly mix all ingredient together. Place in wide mouth jar.

 

Because this includes yogurt, be sure to keep it refrigerated and use it all within one week. If not, then feed it to the chickens, compost it, or discard it.

I hope that you enjoy this!  – OkieRanchWife

 

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’s focus is on Black Gun Lowers. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Wall St., Main St. Still See Gold Bull Running Strong

o o o

What’s Up With Australia’s 80 Tonnes Of Gold At The Bank Of England?

 

Global Economy & Finance:

From Wolf Richter: What the Fed Actually Said About Ending the QE Unwind. Here is a snippet:

“That the QE unwind would continue on autopilot at least until the next meeting was clear from the post-meeting Implementation Notes, released on January 30. And it was repeated in the minutes – same language as it has been since late 2017.

“The Committee directs the Desk to continue rolling over at auction….” Up to $30 billion in Treasury securities and up to $20 billion in mortgage-backed securities would be allowed to mature and roll off the balance sheet without replacement, same as before.”

o o o

At Zero Hedge: Shocking Philly Fed Collapse: Biggest Drop Since 2011 US Rating Downgrade

o o o

Venezuela: Hunger, punishment and fear, the formula for repression used by authorities under Nicolás Maduro. (Thanks to G.P. for the link.)

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — February 24, 2019

On February 24, 1970 an avalanche took the lives of 29 Swiss army officers in Reckingen, Switzerland.

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A reminder: We are seeking non-fiction articles for the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest. There is still just over one month remaining in the current round. With more than $850,000 worth of prizes awarded since 2005, the contest has tangible rewards for the most informative writers! More than $10,000 worth of prizes will be distributed to the top three prize winners, in the current round. Get busy writing! Share what you’ve learned, and we all win. Thanks.

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Today we present a guest article by Brandon Smith, of the excellent Alt-Market blog.

Is Venezuela on the Verge of Becoming Another Syria?, by Brandon Smith

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Establishment elites have always had a predilection for regime change. Obviously, this strategy helps weed out nation states that might be uncooperative with their future plans for a fully centralized global economic and political order. We have also seen regime change occur when former puppet leaders go rogue and refuse to follow the script they have been given. Most of these men have acted as dictators and are not very empathetic public figures, so we rarely care when they get overthrown or murdered. That said, there are always wider implications to such events.

I believe the reasons for regime change and the destabilization of particular countries have evolved in recent years. In the past it was about bringing each countries under the new world order umbrella. Today, the goal seems to be an attempt to create points of global contention. That is to say, the elites want to draw much of the world into various forms of conflict, and they are using special regions of the globe as nexus points for these conflicts.

Syria was and still is one of those nexus points. The transmutation of Syria began as an extension of the Arab Spring. Western funded and organized coups in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt inspired even more extremism as well as a vast flow of black market military grade armaments. The CIA under the Obama Administration in particular took advantage of this chaos to fill training camps in Jordan with “moderate rebels”, the same rebels that would go on to launch ISIS and start a civil war in Syria.

A Billion to Syrian Rebels

While the billion dollar program to arm and supply Syrian rebel groups, many of which were closely tied to ISIS, was finally “officially ended” under the Trump administration in 2017, more covert US support continued for these groups as well support for Israeli incursions into sovereign Syrian air space.

Syria has had the potential to draw multiple nations into close and hostile proximity with each other, including the US, Russia, Israel and Iran. This was not a mistake, it was entirely deliberate.Continue reading“Is Venezuela on the Verge of Becoming Another Syria?, by Brandon Smith”

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”.  Today, we focus on Armed Americans.

The Dreaded H.R. 8 Headed to Rules Committee

The dreaded unconstitutional H.R. 8–a nationwide ban on private party sales of guns–was ramrodded through the House Judiciary Committee last week. In the Democrat-dominated committee, NO amendments were approved and debate was cut short. The bill is next headed to the House Rules Committee for a brief hearing at 5 p.m. on February 25th.  (The House Rules Committee has long been considered the Speaker’s pet committee, and is one of main sources of parliamentary power for the Speaker position.) There, it should get a “rubber stamp” approval, since Speaker Pelosi is fast-tracking the bill. A floor vote can be expected soon.  It now has a frightening 232 co-sponsors. Please contact your Congrescritter and urge him/her to load up H.R. 8 with as many Killer Amendments as possible.  Ditto for contacting your U.S. Senators, for the Senate version, which is dubbed S.42.  Ask them to kill that bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Benchmade: Say It Isn’t So!

Video from Jon Patton at TGC: Is Benchmade Anti-Gun? – The Fight

Ron Paul and the Never-Ending Story of Empire

H.L. recommended this video: Interview: Ron Paul and the Never-Ending Story of Empire

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.

As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.” (Hebrews 5:1-11) (KJV)

—
“For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:

But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.

And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.

And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.

For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:

(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)

By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.” Hebrews 5:1-11 (KJV)

 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — February 23, 2019

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I’ll start off today with some sad news:  W.E.B. Griffin, Army Veteran and Prolific Military Novelist, Dead at Age 89.

—

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836).

February 23rd is also the birthday of Captain Isaac Davis (February 23, 1745 – April 19, 1775), a militia officer and gunsmith who commanded a Minute Company in Acton, Massachusetts during the Battle of Concord.

—

Today we present a guest article by Gary Christenson.

Downturns and Financial Crises – Sequence, by Gary Christenson

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Bond Market Turned Down & Interest Rates Up – Check!
  • Two-Year yield bottomed September 2011
  • Five-Year yield bottomed July 2012
  • Ten-Year yield bottomed July 2016
  • The 30+ year bond bull market is done.
Housing Market Turned Down – Check!
  • Mortgage rates bottomed in July 2016.
  • Mortgage applications have fallen hard.
  • London, Vancouver B.C. and Australian prices are down.
  • New York, San Francisco, and Dallas prices are down.
  • Housing Bubble 2.0 is correcting.
Stock Markets Turned Down—Check!
    • Chinese Shanghai peaked January 2018
    • German DAX peaked January 2018
    • U.K. FTSI peaked May 2018
    • U.S. NASDAQ peaked August 2018
    • U.S. Transports peaked September 2018
    • U.S. DOW peaked October 2018
    • All indices are off their highs. New lows lie ahead.
Continue reading“Downturns and Financial Crises – Sequence, by Gary Christenson”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready! Today, a bit about body armor. (Modern, that is.)

JWR ReportS

We certainly had our share of snow plowing and snow shoveling this week. The weather had improved,  snow was already so deep that I had to ask a favor of my neighbor. He has a mid-size tractor with a dandy PTO rotary snow plow in the front. It blows snow out its snout nearly 40 feet. He punched some big voids in our snow banks with his rotary, so I now have a place to push snow, when I do plow. I’ll be happy when the Jet Stream shifts. The nearby Un-Named Range of Mountains must be at 130% of average annual snowpack. Our part of the American Redoubt never goes wanting for water.

After years of dawdling, I finally supplemented our body armor. In addition to a couple of Level II and IIIA concealment vests, we now have plate carriers with Level 4 mil-spec ceramic plates. It great having those options, depending on the situation. Finding surplus plates was easy. But finding comfortable and good-fitting plate carries that suited our purposes required some research. For Lily, we settled on a Blackhawk brand “Low Visibility” (minimalist) carrier.  And for me, I opted for a used CIRAS rig, with beaucoup pouches. The rig came with a holster, but I will probably remove that and use a Kydex hip holster, instead. We’ll see. I need this to work for both on the trail and in a vehicle. No doubt I’ll make some changes to make it carry what I need it to, and be comfortable.

Avalanche Lily Reports

Dear Readers,

Wow, where did this week go?  It flew by on me.  I feel that time is seriously speeding up…

This week I don’t feel that there is as much to say on my part, except that we did the usual school, and animal chores. I also skied for five hours.  I shoveled snow from the path from the house to the greenhouse. It had three feet of snow, for about lineal 80 feet.  Last week I shoveled out the frost-free spigot on the other side of the greenhouse.  I’ll still need to do that once again since we’ve had more snow since then.  Soon, I will be getting out my pots, trays, soil and seeds to start growing my seedlings.  I will be starting them in the house in a hallway this year, since our guest bedroom will be occupied by one of our older children who has returned to our home. Yes, I’m very happy he is coming home for a time.  He is our world traveler.Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

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”.  Today, we focus on winter warfare training.  The photo for this column is a historical shot of Italian army alpine troops on skis. Some tactics and techniques are time-proven.

SurvivalBlog Archive USB Sticks Back in Stock

They’re back in stock! The first batch of 1,000 of the SurvivalBlog 2005-2018 Archive Waterproof 16 GB USB sticks sold out in just five weeks. After a brief delay, the second batch of just 550 is now in hand, tested, and available for shipment. This may be our final batch of this year’s edition, so order yours, soon. Many folks place order for two or three of them at a time. When I last checked, there were 485 of the batch of 550 remaining.

79-Year-Old Georgia Woman Versus Home Invader

Reader DSV spotted this: 79-Year-Old Georgia Woman Fends Off 20-Year-Old Home Invader With a Gun

DNA Databases

Also from DSV: FBI plotting to keep DNA of entire population on file to create ‘nation of suspects’

And, in related news: Gregg sent us this news from Arizona: You may soon have to give your DNA to the state and pay $250 for the privilege

And meanwhile in the People’s Republic of China: China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale.
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” – Genesis 14:14-24(KJV)