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 features and interesting article on the ultimate survivor – a Japanese man that willing walked away from civilization.

Florida Gun Control

Reader Tim J. sent us this: Alachua County Commissioners vote on gun ordinance.

JWR’s Comment: It is safe to predict that this will be stricken by the Florida courts, since Florida has reserved State Preemption over all firearms laws for many years.

6.5 Creedmoor

According to this article sent in by reader G.P., U.S. Special Operations troops will soon be fielding sniper systems in the 6.5 Creedmoor caliber. The round is slated to replace the venerable 7.62×51 and has superior long-range ballistic performance. This caliber has long been a favorite of civilian long-range precision shooters. This move by the pentagon will give it more main-stream acceptance. The article also states that Homeland Security will follow suit in the caliber change for their snipers. I’m curious about this move though. It was my understanding that while the military sniper specialized in long-range targets, Homeland Security tended towards shorter range.

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – June 27, 2018

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June 27th is the birthday of economist Dr. Ravi Batra. (Born 1943.)

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 77 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

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, and
  6. 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).

Round 77 ends on July 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.

Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Preparation for Survival, by S.L.

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What does it mean to survive? Obviously, humans have survived countless natural and man-made disasters and continue to survive and thrive on planet earth. However, in this blog, we are focusing on surviving a SHTF situation.

We Prepare

All around us we see our freedoms being eroded and many of our systems being corrupted. So we prepare. But for what? So many scenarios could play out– a false epidemic, fires (natural or man made), SWAT teams in the early hours in small communities where they can knock out power and cell, preventing us from spreading the alarm. And, there are so many more possibilities.

Three Most Critical Areas of Preparation

The three most critical areas of preparation are rarely discussed. These are mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Why These Areas of Preparation Are Important

Why are these areas of preparation so important? It’s because, at our core, that is all we truly are. Our body is a vehicle we use. It needs sustenance, warmth, and protection. Al of that we need to be mentally and emotionally strong to achieve.

Continue reading“Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Preparation for Survival, by S.L.”

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 a Possible Bitcoin Sucker Rally. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold price hits more than 6-month low as dollar and equities recover

o o o

Jim Wyckoff: Where are the Stops? Tuesday, June 26, Gold and Silver

o o o

Bubble Charts: War Between Tech Investors vs. Gold And Silver

 

Forex & Cryptos (Possible Bitcoin Sucker Rally):

Bitcoin’s Defense of $6K Raises Odds of Relief Rally. JWR’s Comment: I’m not so optimistic. This may be a Sucker Rally. Thankfully, I turned nearly all of my Bitcoin into tangibles (gun parts, guns, and silver) back when it was worth in excess of $8,500 per BTC.

o o o

NordFX: Forex Forecast and Cryptocurrencies Forecast for June 25-29, 2018

o o o

The World’s Most Cashless Countries

o o o

Ether Price Drops to 10-Week Low Near $400

 

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 the movie titled Prepper. (See the Movies section.)

Books:

Spymaster: A Thriller (The Scot Harvath Series)

o  o  o

The Complete Ketogenic Diet for Beginners: Your Essential Guide to Living the Keto Lifestyle

o  o  o

Jerusalem Caliphate and the Third Jihad

o  o  o

Habitat for Humanity How to Build a House Revised

 

Movies:

Prepper.  A 2016 fictional film. Surprisingly, it did not demean survivalism or prepping, although it had a couple of cliches. Most advanced preppers will consider this movie incredibly basic. But it could be worth lending to your Head-In-The-Sand neighbors, friends, and co-workers. Available on DVD. Also available for free streaming to Amazon Prime members. A side note: Jay Bowdy (the lead actor) sadly committed suicide in 2017.

o  o  o

The Gates of Jerusalem. A fascinating documentary on the history of The City of David. It was narrated by Richard Kiley. Despite a few mispronunciations by Kiley, it is well worth watching. Available on DVD. Also available for free streaming to Amazon Prime members.

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“No faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known God’s strength had His strength not been needed to carry you through.” – Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – June 26, 2018

June 26th is the birthday of Marine Corps Lt. General Chesty Puller (born 1898, died October 11, 1971). Perhaps America’s finest-ever maverick officer, Puller was part of what JWR calls the Even Greater Generation.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 77 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

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, and
  6. 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).

Round 77 ends on July 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.

Evacuation, by S.A.

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They’re coming. You know they are coming, because they have told you so. Yet, you have told them over and over through the years what lies ahead. They have listened politely with a small smile, then proclaimed, “I’m just coming to your place!” ‘Nuff said?

Personal Message To Our People

Our personal message is that when you get the call to come, then come. You must come, now. Leave within the next two hours so you can get out of the city before the roads become impassable. Some say if you miss the 24 hour window for evacuation, you will be walking when the traffic snarl halts due to congestion, car breakdowns, running out of gas, fender benders, or lack of food and water. This means any time of day or night. In fact, a night exit may be your safest bet. Your city possibly could be like Houston before Hurricane Rita. You’ve seen the footage. Travel became impossible. Everything shut down, and some people even died.

Always keep your car gas tanks so they are no less than 1/2 empty. Even better is 3/4 full, at all times.

Priority Lists

Pack as if you will never return. Bring two cars, totally filled with family, pets, and goods. Here’s your Priority List, in this order:

Continue reading“Evacuation, by S.A.”

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. The emphasis this week is on upcoming fairs, parades, rodeos and other events in The American Redoubt.

Region-Wide

Vote To Break Up California Is Happening! Here’s What The New States Would Look Like. If this plan is successful, then it will set a powerful precedent in 21st Century America. This could make the partition of eastern and western Oregon and the partition of eastern and western Washington much more likely. There might also be a partition of northern and southern Idaho, and even Colorado, as well. The creation of additional conservative States could profoundly alter the political makeup of the U.S. Senate.

Idaho

The Fort Hall Championship Rodeo will be held August 11th and 12th, 2018.

o o o

The North Idaho State Fair will be in CDA, as usual, August 22nd to 26th, 2018.

o o o

Are There Political Prisoners in Idaho?

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”. The Venezuelan government has effectively taken control of the water distribution now.

Walking on Water

The Odds ‘n Sods entry last week on using a paddle board as an emergency water crossing device created a few interesting comments. What happens when you have more than just yourself to get across the body of water? What if it’s your entire family or your gear? Reader G.P. sent in this video that he found on a non-inflatable mat that literally lets you walk on water. The mat is made of a closed cell foam and rolls up for relatively easy transportation. While not as small as an inflatable raft in the stored position, the closed-cell foam will support up to 1200 pounds of people and/or equipment and doesn’t suffer from puncture problems. Hey, this might be a fun water toy to have that doubles as an emergency life raft.

Ransom Demands

Hackers are now heavily targeting municipal computer systems across the U.S. Large cities like Atlanta, tiny towns and even a library system in St. Louis have all been hit by the ransomware hacking. Local governments are forced to spend money on data recover, insurance and in some cases online extortion if the IT department can’t recover the data. Public-sector attacks are outpacing private-sector attacks at this point. It is generally thought that hackers don’t target specific cities, rather they simply search for vulnerabilities. It is also not believed that this is the work of nationstates. Instead, is is just cybercriminals. make sure you have changed any default passwords on any computer or device that you have control over!

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The left has created a macabre myth that runs counter to the whole experience of mankind.  The left has persuaded the gullible masses of America, including, sadly, most conservatives, that ‘discrimination’ by individuals and businesses is wrong and that it violates the Constitution.

Precisely the opposite is true.  All serious cognition and all honest moral judgments involve discrimination.  When individuals and businesses are not free to discriminate, then the power to determine what is true and false and good and bad becomes the sole property of the state – or that even more odious creature, that lobotomized Frankenstein monster, ‘society.’

Instead of diverse opinions and actions freely manifest, which are what happens when the state and society are denied the power to force a certain viewpoint down the throats of private citizens and enterprises, what happens is that all debate, all differences, and all individuality are crushed based upon what those who run the state or manipulate society deem sacrosanct.” – Bruce Walker, in The American Thinker

Preparedness Notes for Monday – June 25, 2018

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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.

Springfield Armory Range Officer 1911 – Gov’t Model, by Pat Cascio

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We’re taking a close look at an updated classic 1911 with some enhancements, making it ready for the range, competition, or self-defense. It’s the Springfield Armory Range Officer 1911 in .45 ACP.

Thanks for Reminding Me

I think we have some of the smartest readers out there, and you all have a great memory.  I promised to review the Springfield Armory Range Officer, full-sized Government Model after reviewing a different model Range Officer. Somewhere along the line, this gun review was pushed back. My bad! I have more than 30 products on hand awaiting their turn on our editorial page, so I manage to keep extremely busy all of the time. Thanks for reminding me to review this handgun!

Far From Ordinary 1911

The Springfield Armory Range Officer 1911 comes in different flavors, from the smallest to the full-sized .45 ACP handguns. We’re checking out the full-sized gun this time around. At first glance, it might look like any ordinary mil-spec 1911 because of the parkerized gray finish, but it is far from ordinary in a number of ways.

Continue reading“Springfield Armory Range Officer 1911 – Gov’t Model, by Pat Cascio”