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 TSA is at it again, this time tracking domestic travel of U.S. citizens.

Farmlands Documentary

The official documentary that Lauren Southern has been working on has been released. Farmlands (2018) documents the plight of South African white farmers as they receive pressure from both the government and the black population. The documentary covers the false promises of equality and the corruption and lies of the government as well as the actions of local communities. The documentary is a little over an hour long and is well worth watching. Despite being held up by the left as a paragon of justice, the South African movement is a debacle on the order of Zimbabwe. Thanks to D.B. for the link.

The Cost of Illegals

Reader H.L. sent in this article that details the financial burden of illegal immigration on United States taxpayers. Of particular interest is the data that shows that when you include both the federal and the state costs, you end up with a total cost of almost $135 billion to service an estimated 12.5 million illegal aliens. But those same immigrants, if they all paid taxes, would only bring in around $19 billion in combined taxes. That leaves a shortfall of $116 billion that you, the American taxpayer has to pick up. The article breaks the tax expenditures down so it’s easy to see where the money goes.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” – Mark 12:28-30 (KJV)

A Weapons Systems Approach to Firearms and Training

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Being well-armed and trained is a cornerstone of preparedness.

I’m writing this to reiterate and expand on a subject that I’ve briefly mentioned several times in the more than 12 years that SurvivalBlog has been published. This is the concept of a taking a Systems Approach to firearms and firearms training.  By this, I mean changing your entire mindset about simply “buying a gun.”  You are not just buying a gun. Rather, you are acquiring a weapons system, including logistics and training.

Here is a thumbnail list to consider:

  • The Firearm Itself
  • Ammunition. (At least 1,000 rounds for each primary rifle or pistol.)
  • Magazines (At least six per handgun and 10 per rifle.)
  • Spare Parts
  • Reference Manuals
  • Modifications and Upgrades
  • Bipods
  • Registered Suppressors
  • Optics (and spare batteries for them, if needed)
  • For Precision Rifles: Rangefinder and Kestrel (and spare batteries for them)
  • Targets for Zeroing and Training
  • Ear Muffs (preferably electronic)
  • Magazine Pouches
  • Dump Pouch
  • Web Gear Harnesses or Plate Carriers
  • Holsters or Scabbards
  • Slings
  • Transit/Air Travel Cases
  • Cleaning Equipment
  • Home Vaults and/or Rural Caches

As I’ve written many times, training is crucial. Owning a gun doesn’t make you a competent shooter any more than owning a surfboard makes you a surfer.

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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!

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:

This week we had some guests visiting at the Rawles Ranch, so we didn’t get too much prepping work done. That is one of the perils of living in a scenic part of the American Redoubt: Receiving a lot of house guests every summer!  But we do love entertaining guests and blessing them.

Avalanche Lily Reports:
This week, in addition to hosting our guests, (we took them canoeing on the river that flows through the Rawles Ranch, and hiking), I spent a lot of time pulling and weed whacking weeds in the Annex garden and in the orchard. I also harvested from our garden and froze: black raspberries, some red raspberries, brocolli, and the first of our zucchini squash from our main garden.  The fall bed in the greenhouse has germinated many of its seeds that I planted a week and a half ago.  It is looking very good.  I’m sorry that I haven’t been giving too many details on are gardening, lately.  We’ve just been very busy enjoying the summer and working on projects and hosting friends.  I’ve received a few personal e-mails that I intend to answer very soon, concerning gardening.  Maybe I’ll even write an article concerning those questions.

Many Blessings to All, – Jim Rawles and Avalanche Lily, Rawles

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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”. Migrant riots in Spain start up as they rush the Spain/Morocco border.

Missing Safe Deposit Boxes

Think your valuables are “safe” in a bank’s safety deposit box? Bank of America is in trouble because they have been drilling the locks on boxes and disposing of the contents. The law states that the bank has to make an effort to contact the owner before such action is taken, but in many cases there is question as to how much effort the bank put into the action. Some people are reporting that they showed up at the bank to access their box and the contents were just gone. Others claim the bank canceled the rental, drilled the box, dumped the contents in a bag and mailed it to them. Many items were missing or damaged in the process. One of the people actually worked for the bank when her box was drilled. You might want to reconsider a safe at home. Thanks to KAA for the link.

Cash is King

Reader DSV sent in this article (part four in the series) on the things you can do with cash that you can’t with a debit/credit card. Interestingly, he compares it to Bernie Sanders complaint that there are over 23 different kinds of deodorant at a grocery store. We are a rich nation, not because of the 23 kinds of deodorant, but because we have the choice of 23 different kinds of deodorant. With cash, you have far more choices than you do with a debit/credit card. There are discounts available to you and much less tracking of what you purchase or where you go. I’ve experienced this myself when looking to buy a used car.

I was able to take the right deal at the right time because I had the option of cash. If I didn’t have the cash on hand, the deal would have been gone by the time I arranged financing. Cash is king!

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Guest Post: War on Americans, by Gary Christenson

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Wars benefit the political and financial elite. Most wars are on-going, whether they include formal Congressional declaration or military actions. The following wars will continue.

  • Drugs.
  • Poverty.
  • Cash.
  • Reality based statistics.
  • Savers.
  • Students.
  • Purchasing power.
  • Pensions.
  • Real money.
  • Accountability and honest accounting.

Drugs.

This war has cost the U.S. government over $1 trillion in direct costs. Check with your teen-aged children for the easy availability of illegal drugs to confirm its failure. Powerful forces want this war to continue – profits from drug sales and money laundering are huge.

Poverty.

The U.S. has fought this war for decades and made little progress. Per the Heritage Foundation the cost since President Johnson declared war on poverty has been (inflation adjusted) $22 trillion.

Cash.

This is a recent “war.” Financial and political control increases when individuals have no alternative for their savings except commercial banks. Remove an individual’s ability to convert assets into cash and financial privacy is gone.

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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 buying used, collectible guns. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start of with this piece by Alasdair Macleod: Valuing Gold In A World Awash With Dollars

o o o

Gold Production In South Africa Continues To Collapse – Plummets 85% From Peak In 1970 (Video)

Commodities:

Trade War And Commodities – Bearish Short Term, But Bullish Long Term

o o o

Top US Shale Oil Fields Decline Rate Reaches New Record….Half Million Barrels Per Day

 

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Preparedness Notes for Thursday – July 26, 2018

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On July 26th, 1931, a swarm of grasshoppers descended on crops throughout the American heartland, devastating millions of acres. Already in the midst of a bad drought, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota suffered tremendously. The swarms was said to be so thick that it blocked out the sun and one could shovel the grasshoppers with a scoop. While America has not seen infestations on such a scale since then, North Africa and parts of the Middle East continue to experience them.

Defensive Handgun Training, by B.E.

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Before taking a defensive handgun training course recently, I posted on Facebook that we were taking our trailer to to an RV Park for the weekend. My wife would be with the kids and grandkids during the daytime while I attended an NRA Intermediate Training course. That all worked out great!

“Gun Fighting” Training; No One Wants To Be In a Gun Fight

For me, it was three days of focused “gun fighting” training. Don’t take that wrong. No one at that class, including the instructors and me for sure, ever want to be involved in a gun fight.

Thoughts When I Carry

I always carry several thoughts with me when I carry:

  1. There is an attorney’s name attached to every bullet that comes out the end of my barrel,
  2. I’d better be ready to be bankrupted and spend the rest of my life in prison for what I do, and
  3. I may have to live with a killing the rest of my life. But it if comes to me and can’t be avoided, I need to be prepared, prepared to either die or live, in some cases. When a gun is needed, nothing else will do.

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Letter: Question on the Size of Your Prepping Group

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Hugh,

I recently came across a book called the 150-Strong: A Pathway To A Different Future written by a “Subsistence Engineer”– Rob O’Grady. The book author’s thesis is that there is a threshold in which human beings can maintain good relationships.

I believe that this holds some importance in a post-collapse civilization. For example, in my military unit of less than 150 members, I am able to personally connect with every member. Rank becomes somewhat irrelevant. At times we are friends unified towards a common cause. Most of the times we speak to each other on a first name basis. Things get done in a military manner. We talk of our families and our lives. There is something deeper to our bonds, regardless of rank.

In larger units, I have to rely on rank in entirety on building relationships for the majority. In past times I have become so out of touch with some of the officers that sometimes I only see them at special events. Despite the fact that many of these officers share much commonality with myself, in these units I feel you sometimes seem to need to pick and choose your friends, because of the sheer number of people. The situation becomes predatory for some, all about increasing your rank to get your voice heard.

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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”.

Heat and Drought

Noting that today is the anniversary of one of the worst grasshopper invasions in the U.S. ever, reader H.L. sent in this article showing that the heat and drought conditions in the U.S. are similar to those that occurred in the 1930s. Weather patterns like this haven’t been this widespread since the dust bowl of the 1930s. Almost the entire Southwest is in drought conditions with many farmers reporting that irrigation water has already been shut off. Agriculture production has been devastated and major lakes, rivers and streams are rapidly becoming dry. Even the wild horse populations are suffering because of the drought.

Power Grid

The Dragonfly group of Russian hackers began attacking the powergrids of American and European power companies in 2011 according to Symantec, but they went dark in 2014. The group had a three pronged approach: Phishing emails to senior employees, malware embedded in websites that employees visited, and fusing malicious code with common JavaScript software. While the hope had been that they disbanded, they simply retooled, but this time attacking primarily American targets. Now they are focused on reaching the operational side of the grid. malicious code is even embedded in employee resumes. The threat to the power grid is a real as ever according to Symantec. Thanks to P.M. for the link.

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