SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This column is posted on Tuesdays. Here, we present news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies in the region of interest to preppers. This week’s focus is on several upcoming visits to the Redoubt by the US Air Force Thunderbirds aerobatic flying team.

Idaho (Thunderbirds!)

The USAF Thunderbirds precision flying team will perform on October 14th and 15th at Gowen Thunder. Gowen Field is three miles south of Boise. In addition to being a commercial and general aviation airport, the Boise airport is also home to the 124th Fighter Wing of the Idaho Air National Guard.  That Wing operates A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. (The A-10 is more popularly known as the Warthog.) By the way, Gowen Field is  one of five military bases that are contenders to base F-35 fighters, since the awesome  A-10 is sadly scheduled for retirement.

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Parrish Miller wrote this informative piece for Redoubt News: Idaho’s Campus Carry Law Needs Reform

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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”. We’ll let Mike Williamson start it off today.

Mike Williamson

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large sent in this somewhat humorous link about antifa opening a self-defense training gym in Chicago. Well, it’s not really a gym because they couldn’t raise the funding, so they meet in a park. They’re not really teaching self defense because no one seems to know anything about it. They don’t like the masculine dominated gym culture, so they’re exercising in the park. The spokesman says they don’t want to get aggressive. Floral hats are optional too.

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Mike also sent this Facebook video of a person driving down the street in Monfalcone, Italy. This is in the heart of Europe, but you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone not in Islamic garb. Europe is almost lost.

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The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

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“The origin of all civil government, justly established, must be a voluntary compact, between the rulers and the ruled; and must be liable to such limitations, as are necessary for the security of the absolute rights of the latter; for what original title can any man or set of men have, to govern others, except their own consent? To usurp dominion over a people, in their own despite, or to grasp at a more extensive power than they are willing to entrust, is to violate that law of nature, which gives every man a right to his personal liberty; and can, therefore, confer no obligation to obedience.” – Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775

S&W M&P .45 Compact, by Pat Cascio

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Today, I’m writing about Smith & Wesson’s M&P .45 Compact. This is the “older” M&P rather than the 2.0 version.

Smith & Wesson

I used to be a huge S&W fan. I still love their guns, but over the years their customer service just isn’t what it used to be. So, whenever I have a S&W firearm, I know that I’m pretty much on my own if something goes wrong with it. Last time, S&W wanted $88 to repair something that was covered under the warranty. I told them to keep the gun. Instead, they returned it still broken!

S&W is still a leader in the firearms industry. There is no doubt about that at all. And, they are making a very strong come back in the law enforcement arena, which they used to pretty much own until Glock came on the scene. Still, S&W is doing great with their M&P line-up of handguns and AR-style rifles.

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Recipe of the Week: Homemade Crockpot Thanksgiving Dressing, by L.H.

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I literally spent years working on this recipe, taking notes, and making changes after every less-than-stellar effort. (And there were a lot of these!) There were the years I served a brick of dressing (too many eggs), and the year I served green dressing (too much sage).Then I decided I needed to learn to make it in the crockpot to reserve the oven for the turkey and other dishes, and that was a whole ‘nuther learning experience. You get the idea. 

But I finally came up with what we think (and our family and guests seem to agree) is a really good basic bread dressing that comes out of the crockpot perfectly every year, every time. If you like an old-fashioned traditional bread dressing, and consider making homemade a “labor of love” as I do, I think you’ll like it.

Ingredients

  • About 16 oz. toasted/dried bread cubes (*see note below)
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 large stalks celery, diced
  • 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. sage
  • 1/2 tsp. thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 3-5 c. chicken broth or turkey stock, divided
  • 1 egg

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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 Forever stamps sold by the U.S. Postal Service.

Precious Metals:

First, by way of the excellent The Daily Coin web site, we found this cross-post from The Daily Reckoning: The ONLY Gold Chart You Need

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Gold Steady Ahead Of US Data This Week, Weaker Dollar Supports

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Preparedness Notes for Sunday – June 25, 2017

On June 25th, 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand –marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. While complicated, the generally accepted reason for the battle is that the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills in 1875 led to the U.S. government disregarding previous treaty agreements. The gruesome fate of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations. – HJL

Too Much Government Trying To Assert Control Over “We The People” , by J.S.

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[Editor’s Note: This article contains some controversial and uncomfortable topics and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors. However, there is much to consider here regarding the police state.]

I propose that there exists too much government trying to assert control over the U.S. citizens– “We, the people”. The burden upon the citizens is enormous, and the citizens have accepted it under the guise that it is necessary for our well-being and for the safety and well-being of those who protect us. Let’s take a look at the evidence.

Wisdom from U.S. Forefathers

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” – Patrick Henry

“The land of the free and the home of the brave.” – Francis Scott Key

“…a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – Abraham Lincoln

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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”. Today’s feature is on government overreach, coinciding with today’s contest entry article.

Government Overreach

Reader H.L. sent in this article showing how three teenagers were handcuffed and detained for selling bottled water without a permit. She adds: “Please read carefully and understand how you are not free in America! As a child on our Vernon, CT farm Dad raised many great vegetables. I was at the roadside under the huge sign that said “L*******’s Farm”. I had a card table and umbrella, selling vegetables to passing motorists! It was not to make money, but that was not the point. Dad gave the neighbors extra vegetables, and we froze and canned lots and lots, but nothing went to waste. We gave some surplus to the pig and the turkeys. We sold the fresh picked surplus. It gave me, a shy child of 7 or 8, a chance to deal with adults and learn to make change!

Everyone benefited! Today, in most of America, local politicians shut down anyone, even young folks, from selling things. Often, it’s because they did not have an expensive permit! It is just another way for the towns and cities to tax the heck out of us. To throw their weight around. In many places you cannot even make cookies or some treats in your kitchen and give them away without a Health Dept. inspection and a permit, never mind trying to sell them to raise a little money to support your family.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:11-12 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – June 24, 2017

June 24th the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. Wikipedia states: Several of his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

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I heard that fellow blogger Commander Zero just had an emergency appendectomy. (His appendix burst.) Please pray for a full, rapid recovery. Some details can be found at his Notes From The Bunker blog. – JWR

Preparing for a Flood– Part 3, by S.G.

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For the past two days, we have looked at risk management strategies for floods in Part 1 and Part 2. Today, we conclude with the final risk response strategy and the final step in Risk Management– Risk Monitoring.

Scenario 4: A flood has happened.

The water has peaked and is now receding. You may be in several positions now. If you left early enough, then you got out in time with your bug out gear and family intact. Your house condition is most likely unknown, but regardless the area is quarantined and you won’t be able to get back for days or weeks. If you left by the skin of your teeth while watching your house torn off its foundation, you may have almost no worldly possessions left. Or maybe you stayed, braved the flood, and now your house has survived but unfortunately the rest of your neighborhood was destroyed and now you are trapped since the bridges and roads were washed out. There is no electricity or gas, and raw sewage is flowing across your yard.

How you proceed will depend on your situation. Hopefully when you look at those scenarios you can see which are more ideal. Pretty much any scenario not involving bugging out early has put you in a situation with less control. Remember, the best risk management strategy is Avoidance. Bugging out early can avoid many worse scenarios than staying in.

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The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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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 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 also welcome you to share your planned activities for increasing personal preparedness in the coming week. (Leave a Comment with your project details.) Let’s keep busy and be ready!

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,

This has been a delightful summer week, here in the Northern American Redoubt. The weather was sunny with seasonal temperatures in the mid 70s- low 80s, which were perfect for outdoor work/living.

Jim completed one of the plumbing and electrical projects this week. There is one more plumbing project to do sometime in the next two weeks. He gathered in a large pile of four foot logs which will need to be gang-cut and split.

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