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 some recommended Christmas gifts. (See the Books, Movies, and Gear sections.)

Books:

As our greenhouse production just hit its annual low ebb, I’m again referring to this book: Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nutrient-Dense, Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 Days

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The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan

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Habitat for Humanity: How to Build a House Revised & Updated

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Here is a great travel book that makes a great gift: 50 States, 5,000 Ideas: Where to Go, When to Go, What to See, What to Do

 

 

Movies:

Alfred Hitchcock: The Legend Begins – 20 Movie Classics

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Humphrey Bogart:  Sahara

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Akira Kurosawa: Four Samurai Classics (Seven Samurai / The Hidden Fortress / Yojimbo / Sanjuro) (The Criterion Collection)

 

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Among the strange things of this world, nothing seems more strange than that men pursuing happiness should knowingly quit the right and take a wrong road, and frequently do what their judgments neither approve nor prefer. Yet so is the fact; and this fact points strongly to the necessity of our being healed, or restored, or regenerated by a power more energetic than any of those which properly belong to the human mind.
We perceive that a great breach has been made in the moral and physical systems by the introduction of moral and physical evil; how or why, we know not; so, however, it is, and it certainly seems proper that this breach should be closed and order restored. For this purpose only one adequate plan has ever appeared in the world, and that is the Christian dispensation. In this plan I have full faith. Man, in his present state, appears to be a degraded creature; his best gold is mixed with dross, and his best motives are very far from being pure and free from earth and impurity.” – John Jay, Letter to Lindley Murray, 22 August 1774

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – December 11, 2018

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Happy birthday to actress Teri Garr (born 1944.) She was unforgettable in Young Frankenstein.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today 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.

Get Your Children Ready- Part 1, by Save Your Ace

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You have your bug-out-bag packed and ready. You have read all the books, fiction and non-fiction, on the subject of TEOTWAWKI. In addition, you are a dutiful daily reader of survivalblog.com, and you’re mentally prepared for whatever may come when the SHTF. Then you have kids.

How Do You Prepare a Toddler For An Evacuation?

There are plenty of books on pregnancy, the birthing process, parenting, and raising healthy and well adjusted children. But how do you prepare a toddler or young child for an extended evacuation?

Millions of Families Are Forced to Flee Their Home

Every year, millions of families are forced to flee their homes due to a variety of disasters, both natural and man-made. In America this is especially true for Californians dealing with wildfires (both in the southern and northern portions of the state), as well as East and Gulf coasters battling (or running from) hurricanes.

As a reader of this website, you don’t need me to lay out all of the many ways the Shumer could hit the fan in your personal life. You have probably thought through different disasters that could affect you personally, and you have planned for them. However, most Americans have not.

Continue reading“Get Your Children Ready- Part 1, by Save Your Ace”

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. This column’s featured photo is of the Grand Tetons.  The emphasis this week is on Wyoming Car Trunk Captives. (See the Wyoming section.)

 

Region-Wide

First, this comes as a relief to citizens of several northwestern states: Washington regulators shut down $5.3 billion Avista sale to Ontario’s Hydro One

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2018-2019 Long Range Weather Forecast for Intermountain West

 

Idaho

Boise: Planned Parenthood Affiliate Ends Basic Healthcare, Continues Abortions.  JWR’s Comment: This certainly makes it clear where there priority is! (Namely, murdering babies.)

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Robber who used caution tape to hide identity sentenced

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Boise TSA spots 3 loaded firearms in carry-ons in 3 days

 

Montana

ACLU sues Montana sheriff for denying illegal alien bond and honoring ICE detainer. JWR’s Comment: Kudos to Sheriff Bowe for standing firm!

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Report on impact of declining timber harvest on Bitterroot economy released

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Hearing to determine if man charged in Montana deputy’s death can be medicated for trial

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”. “Platinum” used to mean something special. When you were part of the platinum club for any organization, you had somehow earned your way. Even a platinum credit card used to mean that you were financially stable. That’s obviously not the case now. In New Orleans, you can be special by being part of the city sanctioned spying ring.

City Sanctioned Spying

New Orleans has gone full Orwell with their latest proposal. You can now join their new “Platinum” program by tying your security cameras into their feeds.

“SafeCam Platinum is an exciting new opportunity to connect your home or business with the City of New Orleans by sharing your public-facing security camera footage directly with the Real Time Crime Center!”

How exciting, you can now feel like you are part of a privileged group spying on your neighbors.

More Than Carbon Taxes

Reader D.S. sent in this article that shows France’s unrest, while triggered by the new carbon taxes is deeper than that and why the public is still rioting. Both France and German have ordered EU states to open up their borders for mass migration. Both Macron and Merkle have championed the process of a globalist government and redistribution of wealth. In their push to these goals, they have not obtained the consent of the governed and it’s beginning to show. To add insult to injury, it also appears that armored vehicles responding to the riots in Paris are wearing the EU flag.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?” – Patrick Henry, In a speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention (June 5th,1788)

Gerber Prodigy, by Pat Cascio

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I’m always on the lookout for knife bargains and knives to test for our readers. This time around Amazon led me to the Gerber Prodigy, a fixed blade survival knife, and we’ll give you a run down on it in this article.

Writers Who Test Firearms and Knives

Many readers believe that writers, especially those of us who test firearms and knives, make a lot of money doing this for a living. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of us hold or have held other jobs while pursuing the testing/writing of products. As for me, I worked as a police officer and also did private K-9 security work, was a martial arts instructor, as well as offered firearms classes. I did whatever else I had to do to help make ends meet. These days, I’m semi-retired and only test products that I believe would be of interest to our SurvivalBlog readers.

On a Limited Budget

Some knife companies send me their latest products for testing. Other times, I purchase knives out of my own funds, and I’m extremely careful how I spend my money these days since I’m on a limited budget with my fixed income. My wife still works full time. However, in another year or two, she’ll retire and our income will be extremely limited. So, we budget now, and we’ll have to budget even more when that time comes.

Continue reading“Gerber Prodigy, by Pat Cascio”

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 JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on HF Ham Radio Transceivers  (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

 

Precious Metals:

Gold Extends Gains, at 5-Month High, as U.S. Stock Market Sell-Off Intensifies

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For those of you might want to hear from a Chartist: Silver At Historic Price Juncture: Which Way Will It Break?

 

Economy & Finance:

Inverted Yield Curve – The Complete Picture

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Chris Martenson: Every Bubble Is In Search Of A Pin

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At Zero Hedge: “It Can’t Go On Forever” – Bob Shiller Questions America’s “Gigantic Housing Boom”

 

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Preparedness Notes for Sunday – December 09, 2018

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December 9th, 1914 is the birthday of Maximo Guillermo “Max” Manus. He was one of the few Norwegians who had the testicular fortitude to put his life on the line, fighting the Nazi occupiers. (There surely would have been more active resistance fighters, but fearing widespread reprisal executions by the Germans, King H7 asked the civilian populace to stand down.) Max Manus passed away in 1996. I would have liked to have met him. His exploits are fairly accurately shown in the movie Max Manus: Man of War.

Guest Post: Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt, by Gary Christenson

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This post first appeared on The Deviant Investor.

Official US national debt exceeds $21 trillion. National debt increases over $3 billion per day.

Another day older and $3 billion deeper in debt!

The U.S. government pays the interest by issuing new debt. But that new debt increases total debt and (eventually) drives up interest rates, which requires more borrowing to pay the annual interest payments. Another year older and deeper in debt! A reset will occur when the debt load becomes too heavy.

WHY DEEPER IN DEBT?

Governments spend currency units, corporations demand their payoffs, the warfare and welfare lobbies own congress and the “borrow and spend” circus performs.

From Treasury Secretary Mnuchin:

“The real story is we made a significant investment in the military which is very, very important, and to get that done we had to increase non-military spending.”

The Deep State extracted its share of the swag, participants collected their payoffs and debt expanded. Borrow and spend is the lifeblood of the Wall Street and D.C. circus.

But it extends beyond Washington D.C. Consider these massive debt burdens in the U.S.:

Continue reading“Guest Post: Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt, by Gary Christenson”

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”. With Paris burning due to the riots, the questions start arising on why they continue. The answer may surprise you.

Paris Burning

Are you still wondering why Paris is burning? This article sent in by reader H.L. shows why there is so much civil unrest. France has the the highest tax rate in the industrialized world along with the worst investment record in Europe. You can physically oppress people all day long and they will usually just knuckle under and take the abuse. But when you start hitting them in their pocketbook and making it difficult to feed their family– lookout! Back in the 1700s the magic tipping point seemed to be around 6% tax. In today’s world, it would appear to be closer to 40%. France is at a whopping 46.2% tax rate. I don’t think a simple reversal of the new gasoline taxes is going to fix this problem.

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Put another way, Paris is basically burning over climate change taxes introduced in the last few years. The straw that broke the camels back was the $0.25/gallon climate change tax on gasoline. Imagine what will happen if that tax is closer to $49/gallon. That is the level of taxation that a United Nations special climate report calls for in 12 years using a carbon tax of $5,500/ton. The U.N. claims that a tax of $27,000/ton ($240/gallon) is needed to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees. Thanks to DSV for the link.

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