The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” – Ezekiel 20:19-20 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – April 20, 2018

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On April 20th, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, creating the worst known offshore oil spill.

April 20th is also the day that we remember the victims of the Columbine High School tragedy, where two students stormed into a suburban high school in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, at lunch time with guns and explosives, killing 13 and wounding dozens more in what was, at the time, the nation’s deadliest school shooting.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 76 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 76 ends on May 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.

The Four Things I Missed Most In Urban Survival Mode, by J.C.

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Did you ever picture putting all your survival know-how to the test in an urban environment, in a giant city? Did you think about all the piles of rubble you’d have to work around to “put rubber to the road”?

Mexico City Earthquake, September 19th, 2017

I know I didn’t, until I found myself in Mexico City on September 19th of last year, that is. This was the day a 7.2 earthquake shook Central Mexico, toppled buildings, and killed nearly 400 people. This also happened to be the anniversary, to the day, of the hugely destructive 1985 Guerrero Earthquake that shook the city to its knees and claimed an untold number of lives. (Estimates range from 10,000 to 45,000 people.)

First Alarm- Just a Drill and Reminder of 1985 Earthquake

September 19, 2017 didn’t exactly have an auspicious start when the seismic alarm sounded throughout the city in the late morning. But, this first alarm was just a drill– a reminder of 1985 and the shaky soil on which the city sits. It’s a drill that’s sounded every September 19th. Schools, offices, and hospitals throughout the city practice a mock evacuation, so it was nothing to worry about.

Second Alarm, Not a Drill

However, just after 2 PM there was plenty to worry about, as the alarm sounded once more. I knew that this time it was definitely not a drill, as I observed my environs swaying from side to side. I was at the mercy of nature.

Buildings mere blocks from me had crumbled to dust. Critical infrastructure was knocked out or overloaded, as thousands desperately tried to make their ways home. I felt like I was in the beginning scene of a SHTF scenario, and I was kicking myself for not being prepared.

Sure, I had the beginnings of a bug-out bag, but prepping had been a neglected hobby to this point. It had not been a priority.

Continue reading“The Four Things I Missed Most In Urban Survival Mode, by J.C.”

Letter: A Good Word About One of SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Sponsors

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Mr. Rawles,

Recently I was pleased to hear that I had won second place in round 75 of your writing contest for my Inevitable American Gun Ban article. As part of that prize, Emergency Essentials promised to provide a 3 day deluxe emergency kit. Thought grateful for the prize, I didn’t really want the kit because I have multiples of every item in that kit already. What to do?

Hesitantly, I contacted them and asked if I might order something else from the website and pay the cost difference between the items I chose and the 3 day kit. I didn’t expect that they would honor my request and I fully understood that the actual cost of the kit was their financial liability – not the MSRP of the kit. I expected and offered to pay any difference and selected a rocket stove and a grain mill – both of which I needed. Together the items were $220 plus shipping and I expected to pay AT LEAST $150 but left the amount up to them entirely. Truly, any amount would have been fine with me.

Continue reading“Letter: A Good Word About One of SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Sponsors”

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 the recent Bitcoin price rally. (See the Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold Down Slightly After April Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index Rises To 23.2

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Silver Breaking Out; Gold Finds Higher Low

Stocks:

In a discussion about the likelihood of a recession, I had a friend ask me: “What stocks do you think will be recession proof?”  My reply: “Precious few are recession proof. And virtually none are Depression proof.”  I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. To paraphrase: Interest rates are rising, and we are long over-due for a recession. Be ready for a bear market in equities and a long, deep recession or full scale depression. Sell some of your stocks and diversify into tangibles. For a point of reference, my net worth is presently divided (approximately): 60% in ranch land, 25% in precious metals, 14% in guns and ammunition and 1% in cryptocurrencies. I now own no stocks or mutual funds.  If you do hold any stocks, I recommend that you either put in stop loss orders or reduce your stock holdings to no more than 15% of your net worth, until the end of the upcoming recession. Furthermore, you should hedge by shifting your stock portfolio into some hopefully recession-proof stocks. Two time-proven winners seem to be Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Clorox (CLX).

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – April 19, 2018

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April 19th is the original Patriot Day which marks the multiple anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. This first battle, leading to our nation’s independence, was the then-dictator’s (Britain King George III’s) failed attempt at “gun control”– an act being carried out in too many parts of our USA right now. This first gun control of the colonies was a failure, because of the will and determination of a small part of the population (about 3% actually fought for our independence actively, with many others supporting) to stand up to an oppressive, controlling government (England). Without the sacrifice by those few Patriots, we could very well still be “British subjects” rather than independent citizens. Note that due to corporate bureaucracy, the celebration has generally been moved to the third Monday in April to facility a postal/banking holiday.

It also marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis in 1943, the BATF’s costly raid on the Branch Davidian Church in Waco, the gun turret explosion on the USS Iowa in 1989, the capture of the Boston Marathon bomber in 2013, and very sadly also the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

April 19th is also the birthday of novelist Ralph Peters. Coincidentally, Ralph and JWR both have the same literary agent, Robert Gottlieb.

I’m pleased to see that Basics of Resistance: The Practical Freedomista, Book I, by Claire Wolfe and Kit Perez is selling quite well, on release day. (April 19, 2018.) It was ranked around #2,400 on Kindle and  4,500 in print books. It is ranked #1 in a couple of sub-categories! Get a copy!

 

America’s Gun Grabbers Have Accelerated the Mass Exodus to The American Redoubt

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Do you live in The American Redoubt? Be aware that you have some friends arriving soon. The great Redoubt Exodus has begun!

For the past two months the newspapers and electronic media all around the country have been filled with headlines such as these:

Voting With Their Feet

The anti-gun rhetoric and legislation is almost certain to accelerate the already vigorous exodus to The American Redoubt. The political and social differences between the liberal coastal States and the conservative interior States are becoming more and more stark. These differences are now so great that traditional God-fearing and gun loving folks are no longer just considering  relocating. Rather, they are making firm plans, reserving their U-Haul and Ryder trucks, and counting the days until their planned escape. This trend is particularly pronounced in Northern California.

From some anecdotal indications related to me by my friends, relatives, and consulting clients, the local buzz is: It is the liberal coastal Californians are planning to move to Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. But it is mostly the conservative inland ones who are planning to move to Idaho and Montana. A gun owner fleeing California’s civilian disarmament laws is not likely to flee to place like Colorado, which is becoming more restrictive. And a liberal one is not going to place that the liberal mass media has warned them is “hostile” to liberals, like Idaho. (Even though in truth it isn’t.)

This is all just common sense demographic settling–round pegs fitting in round holes, and square ones in square holes. For several years, it has become apparent that the American Redoubt internal migration movement has been catching on. But now the Redoubt Exodus will be getting into full swing. As the old saying goes: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Continue reading“America’s Gun Grabbers Have Accelerated the Mass Exodus to The American Redoubt”

Letter: HF 3002: Welcome to The People’s Republic of Minnesota

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Hugh,

They Never Stop. And they never will. The latest bid to punish the innocent for arms abuse by the guilty— but really to make sure that no sheep-dogs remains protectively collared when the left later disposes of the sheep—is arising in MN. And it’s a doozy:

HF 3022 is now in the Legislature.

  • Permit required to own a gun
  • Permit required to buy a gun
  • Permit required to sell a gun
  • Local law enforcement gets to deny all types of gun permits
  • Local law enforcement gets to deny permits to carry
  • Personal medical information must be shared with law enforcement
  • All firearm transfers must be reported
  • All guns must be registered (fees set by local law enforcement)
  • Registration must be renewed annually
  • Local law enforcement may conduct warrantless “safety inspections” of gun owner’s homes

Continue reading“Letter: HF 3002: Welcome to The People’s Republic of Minnesota”

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”.

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Sadly, due to a freak accident, I’ve temporarily lost the use of my left hand for couple of days. I’ve been reduced to hunt-and-peck typing! Lets just say that anyone who tells you that they fear a firearm more than a knife in close quarters has no idea what they are talking about. The accident was self inflicted during work on the garden irrigation system, but the number of sutures required to repair the damage caused by a simple box cutter is terrifying. With that in mind, I’m just going to list some articles that SurvivalBlog and it’s readers readers found interesting. Hopefully, in a couple of days, the swelling will have gone down enough to allow for the fine motor control required by typing.

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What Hyperinflation In Venezuela Really Looks Like

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“I, Sylvanus Wood, of Woburn, in the county of Middlesex, and commonwealth of Massachusetts, aged seventy-four years, do testify and say that on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, I was an inhabitant of Woburn, living with Deacon Obadiah Kendall; that about an hour before the break of day on said morning, I heard the Lexington bell ring, and fearing there was difficulty there, I immediately arose, took my gun and, with Robert Douglass, went in haste to Lexington, which was about three miles distant.

When I arrived there, I inquired of Captain Parker, the commander of the Lexington company, what was the news. Parker told me he did not know what to believe, for a man had come up about half an hour before and informed him that the British troops were not on the road. But while we were talking, a messenger came up and told the captain that the British troops were within half a mile. Parker immediately turned to his drummer, William Diman, and ordered him to beat to arms, which was done. Captain Parker then asked me if I would parade with his company. I told him I would. Parker then asked me if the young man with me would parade. I spoke to Douglass, and he said he would follow the captain and me.

By this time many of the company had gathered around the captain at the hearing of the drum, where we stood, which was about half way between the meetinghouse and Buckman’s tavern. Parker says to his men, ‘Every man of you, who is equipped, follow me; and those of you who are not equipped, go into the meeting-house and furnish yourselves from the magazine, and immediately join the company.’ Parker led those of us who were equipped to the north end of Lexington Common, near the Bedford Road, and formed us in single file. I was stationed about in the centre of the company. While we were standing, I left my place and went from one end of the company to the other and counted every man who was paraded, and the whole number was thirty-eight, and no more.

Just as I had finished and got back to my place, I perceived the British troops had arrived on the spot between the meeting-house and Bucknian’s, near where Captain Parker stood when he first led off his men. The British troops immediately wheeled so as to cut off those who had gone into the meeting-house. The British troops approached us rapidly in platoons, with a general officer on horseback at their head. The officer came up to within about two rods of the centre of the company, where I stood, the first platoon being about three rods distant. They there halted. The officer then swung his sword, and said, ‘Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, or you are all dead men. Fire!’ Some guns were fired by the British at us from the first platoon, but no person was killed or hurt, being probably charged only with powder.

Just at this time, Captain Parker ordered every man to take care of himself. The company immediately dispersed; and while the company was dispersing and leaping over the wall, the second platoon of the British fired and killed some of our men. There was not a gun fired by anv of Captain Parker’s company, within my knowledge. I was so situated that I must have known it, had any thing of the kind taken place before a total dispersion of our company. I have been intimately acquainted with the inhabitants of Lexington, and particularly with those of Captain Parker’s company, and, with one exception, I have never heard any of them say or pretend that there was any firing at the British from Parker’s company, or any individual in it until within a year or two. One member of the company told me, many years since, that, after Parker’s company had dispersed, and he was at some distance, he gave them ‘the guts of his gun.’ ” – Sylvanus Wood, Member of the Lexington Militia. (He was 23 years old in 1775.) As quoted in The Spirit Of Seventy-six: The Story Of The American Revolution As Told By Participants by Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris (1958)

 

DPMS Versus DPMS, by Pat Cascio

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Two popular AR-style rifles are put to the test. We’re looking at a standard AP4 Carbine and Lite 16-A3 from DPMS today, in a side-by-side comparison.

A Rare Side-By-Side Test

I receive requests all the time from many of our readers to do a side-by-side test of various firearms. I rarely do these types of articles for one very good reason– no matter how fair I try to be, or unbiased, human nature takes over, and I’ll like one firearm better than the other. I could test a 1911 .45ACP from the XYZ company and a version of the same gun from the ABC company, and in the end no matter how fair of a test I might do I’ll end up picking one 1911 over the other. They might perform equally in my testing, too. So, with this in mind, you’ll rarely see me testing one gun against another.

The Main Difference– The Barrel

One of our readers suggested I test two AR-15 style rifles from the same company against one another, with the main difference being that one has a standard M4 style barrel with the “step” and the other having a “pencil” barrel, meaning it is skinny. The stocks are different, too. One has a standard M4 style telescoping stock; the other has a telescoping stock that only DPMS manufactures. Both guns have a 16” Bbl, and both are made by DPMS www.dpmsinc.com. Their stock/inventory is always changing with new and improved versions. Both guns were equipped with a removable carry handle “iron” sight, and both had an M- oval shaped handguard. They both had a flash suppressor as well.

Continue reading“DPMS Versus DPMS, by Pat Cascio”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 the Syrian War Market Effects. (See the Precious Metals and Commodities sections.)

Precious Metals (Syrian War Market Effects):

War Drums over Syria Jolt Oil & Gold Markets

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Stocks:

At The Street: What Trump’s Missile Strikes on Syria Reveal About the Stock Market

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 book New Day of Small Beginnings, by French Calvinist Theologian Pierre Courthial.

Books:

A reminder that Claire Wolfe’s new book is being released tomorrow–Patriot’s Day (April 19th, 2018): Basics of Resistance: The Practical Freedomista, Book I.This nonfiction book was co-authored by Kit Perez. It is available both as an e-book and as a Print On Demand (POD) paperback.

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To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration

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A New Day of Small Beginnings, by Pierre Courthial. This is a new English translation of a great 1996 book by a French Calvinist theologian. Here is a description: “In A New Day of Small Beginnings, Pierre Courthial paints on an expansive canvas the truths and history of Christianity from creation to the present. His interpretation of history is written from the perspective of a sovereign and personal God overseeing His covenantal plan-a design that remains unthwarted through the ages. From a heavenly panorama, he presents a clear image of history from antiquity to the deification of the modern state.”

Movies:

The Millionaires’ Unit. A fascinating documentary about World War I aviators from the Yale Flying Club, on DVD. Also available for free download for Amazon Prime members.

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Cartel Land. A great documentary about the struggle between Mexico’s drug mafia, and an armed citizenry. Available on DVD. Also available for free download for Amazon Prime members.

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week”