The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall at last be satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent.” – Samuel Johnson

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 09, 2019

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On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine published his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This features another entry for Round 80 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. 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 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. 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.

Round 80 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.

“Inclusive” Strategic Planning As Part Of Everyday Environment- Part 1, by Old Bobbert

Editors Note: Commenting has been turned off for this article because most are not reading the article before posting their comments.

What’s the “Inclusiveness” Element and How Does It Work?

As my answer to what is the “inclusiveness” element and how it works, I suggest the following: As a generality, inclusiveness is a system/commitment/style of enabling your group, team, or community of allowing/encouraging/enabling the diversely talented members to work together more productively, and to have stronger provisions to enable these participants to excel in their special talents within a strong, family-like cooperative environment. As a result, you thus create a stronger, more competent, and larger resulting success. This is not to be confused with the modern-day leftist use of the word.

How Can We Benefit Now Through Utilizing Inclusiveness in Both Our Everyday Lives and in Our Preparation Planning?

I suggest the following: Consider professional basketball wherein the basketball is moved from player to player (on one team) while those players are also moving from spot to spot so as to put a specific player with the basketball is in the best possible spot to throw the ball successfully into the hoop, while the opposition (the other team’s players) are strongly endeavoring to disrupt the planned play and capture the basketball. Each team player needs the entire team to play as a single entity so as to win by a single point.

Keep it simple and enjoyable. Help others to be successful. Be happy as you work at success.

First, do all you can to help yourself succeed. Then, work to help others.

“Proper preparation prevents poor performance.” Play ball!

Where Can I Gain Additional Knowledge of the Benefits of Inclusiveness in My Daily Life?

Do a simple Google search for “learning inclusiveness”. Below is some of what I found on the Internet.

Continue reading““Inclusive” Strategic Planning As Part Of Everyday Environment- Part 1, by Old Bobbert”

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 antique hand saws. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Steve Saville: The Japanese Government Is Still Pegging The Gold Price

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Inflation Will Not Be a Major Issue In 2019; But Gold Can Still Shine – Analysts

 

Taxes:

The IRS Wants To Use Social Media To Catch Tax Cheats

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The Federal government’s expected total revenue is estimated to be $3.422 trillion USD for Fiscal Year 2019. The article mentions: “The government’s annual income only pays for 88 percent of spending. It creates a $985 billion budget deficit.”  Those congresscritters probably won’t learn to keep a balanced budget until after they bankrupt the nation and crash the entire monetary system!

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

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 Ammo Cans. (See the Instructional Videos and Gear sections.)

Books:

Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine E-Book

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Bushcraft First Aid: A Field Guide to Wilderness Emergency Care

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Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

 

 

Movies & Television:

Leave No Trace. Available on DVD and also free streaming on Amazon Prime.  One reviewer described it: “This movie is a lovely portrait of a father/daughter relationship, the perils of PTSD that many of our veterans face, and the beauty of a small community that takes care of others. Honestly one of the best films I’ve seen in years.”

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Pride and Prejudice. To clarify, since there have been so many productions: This is the 1995 BBC television production starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Available on DVD and also free streaming on Amazon Prime.

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The second season of the parallel universe television series Counterpart began airing last month on Starz, and will wrap up on February 17, 2019. Warning: Graphic violence and some nudity.

 

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

The Latest SPLC Smear Attack

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The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has published yet another smear article about me, the readers of SurvivalBlog, and the American Redoubt movement. At the SPLC’s  “Hatewatch” web page, an article titled “Far-right survivalist and icon of ‘Patriot’ movement predicts religious civil war” was published on January 3, 2019. This  latest SPLC attack piece begins:

“The framer of a far-right survivalist movement in the Pacific Northwest rang in the new year by warning of religious civil war. James Wesley, Rawles, (sic) a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and self-described religious separatist who once called Islam a “religion of evil and death,” thinks a “war of world views” may come as early as 2020. And he’s urging his readers to strategically relocate inland to red states.”

By cleverly mixing facts, innuendo, and guilt by association, the SPLC’s Hatewatch editors have repeatedly smeared JWR, SurvivalBlog, and the American Redoubt political migration movement. This is just the latest in their long string of baseless attacks. They published similar smear pieces in 2011, and 2013. Their defaming accusations were also parroted by others on several occasions, most notably in 2017. This modus operandi perfectly matches what Prager University warned about, in their video: The “Anti-Hate” Group That Is a Hate Group.

Crank Up the Sinister to 11

Look closely at the layout of the SPLC’s latest attack piece, The portrait photo of me that they used is blown up and tightly-cropped. It has enhanced contrast, a darkening screen cast over the bottom half (to make me look like I have a Tricky Dick Nixon 10-o’clock shadow), and even darker shading added around my eyes. I can only conclude that this was to make me look sinister.

Continue reading“The Latest SPLC Smear Attack”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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 the upcoming closure of Frontier Guns in Kalispell, Montana. (See the Montana section.)

 

Idaho

With the imminent departure of Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Senator Risch (R.-Id.) is expected to become Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This is a powerful, much-coveted chairmanship. Let’s pray that he furthers our national interests while respecting the sovereignty of other nations.

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Fish and Game says not to worry about cougar spotted near Higgens Point

Montana

I heard the following from reader J.S. in Montana: “Frontier Guns in Kalispell, Montana will be closing its doors at the end of January, unless the owner, who is retiring, finds a buyer. This could be a business opportunity for someone in that part of the American Redoubt, or if nothing else, they have some good sales going on now, while they clear out inventory.”

Since their inventory is selling out quickly, it is best to call and ask the owner of Frontier Guns (Scott) about specific inventory availability and pricing before making the drive there. Phone: (406) 755-6800. At last report, they still had more than a dozen 5.56mm ARs on hand, and dozens of other rifle, pistols and shotguns of all descriptions. They also have a wide variety of ammunition and gun accessories. Their offered discounts are already as deep as 25% on some items, such a magazines.

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Foundation hits $4 million fundraising goal for new ALERT helicopter

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The 66th session of the Montana Legislature convened on Monday. It is noteworthy that Montana’s legislature only meets in alternating years. Perhaps in this session they can finally get a a veto-proof majority for Constitutional Carry so that they can get up the same level of firearms freedom as Idaho and Wyoming.  Twice, Montana Governor Bullock (a Democrat) has vetoed permitless concealed carry laws.

 

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

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”. Today, JWR is filling in, while HJL completes the rebuild of our primary server. (We suffered a hacker attack on Sunday, January 6th.)  Today we feature some advice on tuning up tube radios.

Poor WSJ Fact Checking on Gun Ownership

The Wall Street Journal published a quite poorly-written article on Monday. It was titled: Gun Use Surges in Europe, Where Firearms Are Rare. To start, I should mention that is is gun ownership that is surging. So even the headline was poorly-worded. The author, Valentina Pop, is a Romanian journalist who is based in Brussels, Belgium. She really needs to learn about firearms and get her facts straight. Among other things, she calls tear gas dispensing guns “firearms”, and seems to want to include them in firearms ownership statistics. Let me make this clear: These tear gas “guns” are not much more than toys. They first became popular in western Europe beginning in the 1950s.  Europeans have bought them out of desperation, to provide some meager form of self defense against street crime.  Licensed modern cartridge handguns are largely banned outside of the VERY limited ownership (by a small fraction of the population) and use only at shooting club facilities. So most western Europeans have no effective means of self defense.

The included chart showing the number of registered firearms versus the number of “firearms offenses” in Germany is misleading and only suits the world view of statists.  This because the #1 “firearms offense” is unlicensed ownership of a firearm, in country with a universal licensing requirement. Read between the lines folks: What this chart is really showing us is that street crime and hooliganism in Germany is now so bad that everyday citizens are willing to face prosecution, to arm themselves.

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

Kershaw Concierge, by Pat Cascio

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Kershaw knives never ceases to amaze me with the seemingly unlimited folding knife designs they come out with. Today we’re checking out the new Concierge folder, and it’s a slick one for every day carry.

Folding Knives

I’ve been carrying folding knives since I was about five or six years old. When I was growing up in Chicago, just about every kid carried a folder of some kind. We didn’t get into knife fights, either. It was just a tool as far as we were concerned. We also played a game called mumbly peg. I’m not sure what the point was, other than to see if your knife would stick in the dirt or something like that. We also would sit on the front stoop and whittle on an old piece of wood. My grandfather taught me that to pass the time of day. It was fun, period! Today’s kids are too busy with video games to take time to whittle on an old piece of wood just to enjoy passing the time of day. It’s too bad!

School

Today, if you are a kid in school, there is probably a prohibition against carrying a pocket knife. Many school districts will expel you for a year for carrying a weapon. Sheesh, folks, get over it. A knife is a tool, first and foremost. Furthermore, in rural communities, many kids, especially those high school aged, live on farms and ranches and have morning chores they need to do before heading off to school. Quite often a chore will call for the use of a pocket knife. These kids have to do a delicate balancing act of remembering to leave their knife at home before heading to school or chance getting expelled for having the knife in their pocket. It shouldn’t be this way!

Continue reading“Kershaw Concierge, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: CrockPot Spicy Brisket, by F.M.

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs lean beef brisket
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 sliced onion
  • 1 stalk of chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chili sauce (catsup consistency)
  • 1 can of beer

Directions:

  1. Place beef in a slow-cooking pot.
  2. Add salt, pepper, onion, celery, and chili sauce. Pour Beer over all.
  3. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or until tender.
  4. Remove beef from pot and slice.
  5. Skim the fat off of the juices and serve with the meat.

Makes 5 to 6 servings.

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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’s focus is on the Fed’s QE Unwind. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold Bounces Off Lows Following ‘Dovish’ Comments From Powell

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Cliff Droke: Gold’s Safety Factor Kicks Into High Gear

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Wall St., Main St. Bullish On Gold Despite Jobs Data

 

Economy & Finance (Fed’s QE Unwind):

At Wolf Street: Fed’s Balance Sheet Reduction Reaches $402 Billion. Here is a quote: “The QE unwind has started to rattle some nerves. For the past two months, the sound of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the Fed’s QE unwind has been deafening. The Fed started the QE unwind in October 2017. As I covered it on a monthly basis, my ruminations on how it would unwind part of the asset-price inflation and Bernanke’s “wealth effect” that had resulted from QE were frequently pooh-poohed. They said that the truly glacial pace of the QE unwind was too slow to make any difference; that QE had just been a “book-keeping entry,” and that therefore the QE unwind would also be just a book-keeping entry; that QE had never caused any kind of asset price inflation in the first place, and that therefore the QE unwind would not reverse that asset-price inflation, or whatever.

But in October last year, when all kinds of markets started reversing this asset price inflation, suddenly, the QE unwind got blamed, and the Fed – particularly Fed Chairman Jerome Powell – has been put under intense pressure to cut it out.”

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Millions could face severe cuts to food stamps due to government shutdown

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And at Bloomberg: Markets Signal 2019 Focus Will Be Fed’s Balance-Sheet Unwind

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”