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 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!  This week’s emphasis is on the use of indoor grow lights.

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,
This week, I took the family out into the surrounding National Forest for a semi-tactical snowshoeing hike. This turned out to be a good shakedown.  It was only by getting our snowshoes on everyone living at the ranch that we learned that one of the bindings had a missing piece of hardware. That was soon corrected–using a small nut, bolt, and star lockwasher selected from the plastic drawers of hardware in my shop. We had plenty of snow camouflage ponchos. Those are still fairly inexpensive and plentiful. (The Bundeswehr must have switched to a different pattern, and they were all surplussed out.) But we discovered that we didn’t have a full set of white balaclavas and white watch caps.  Those that were needed are now on order.

Two days after our hike–after the snowshoes had fully dried–I did some touch-up spot painting with some flat white spray paint. We are now “good to go.”  Remember:  There is a huge difference between just owning gear and actually getting out there to use it. It takes time and practice to work all the kinks out.  And, of course, every piece of equipment comes with a learning curve.

By the way, many years ago I learned using long “trail” snowshoes in timbered areas just doesn’t work.  Most of our snowshoes are the quite short “modified bear paw” style. Our longest shoes are only about 30″ long, and sometimes even those get tangled up. Your mileage may vary.

Fire Kindling Practice

Part of that hike was having the kids practice kindling fires in a cleared spot in the snow. It has been a very wet winter, so it was tough finding dry tinder. The local Old Man’s Beard lichen was soaking wet. (We tried to look for that on trees with very full overhead cover.  No luck. Even our old standby of breaking dried twigs from tree trunks wasn’t working. We had to rely just on what was in our packs, for tinder and kindling.  Lesson learned:  Always carry plenty. Our favorites are clothes dryer lint, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and of course some finely-split fatwood. Note that it is crucial to carry a waterproof match case and to double-bag all of your tinder materials, to keep them perfectly dry.

Continue reading“The Editors’ Preps for the Week”

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.  Today, JWR is filling in for HJL who is abed with the flu. The emphasis today is on The Black Rifle Buyer’s Market.

The Black Rifle Buyer’s Market

Ever since President DJT was elected, the U.S. gun market has been in the doldrums. That is just human nature.  We had eight years of a BHO-inspired gun-buying frenzy and then justifiable worries about Hitlery Clinton getting elected. But then everyone just breathed a huge collective sigh of relief, last November.  The market has been very slow ever since, especially for so-called Black Rifles. (Semi-auto rifles with anything other than wood stocks.) Yesterday, I saw some evidence that the Buyer’s Market has now hit a low ebb point:  Gun wholsaler/retailer CDNN just put Colt Expanse 5.56mm M4geries on sale for just $599. Concurrently, they are offering free shipping on all semi-auto rifles. Wow.

My advice: Take advantage of this low ebb. Buy low. Stack them deep. In a few years you can  sell off few of those guns at the top of teh market, whenever the inevitable Crise De Jour hits the headlines.

o o o

North American History Stood On Its Head

New Evidence Suggests Stone Age Hunters From Europe Discovered America. (A hat tip to H.L., for the link.)
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield. – Psalm 5, (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – January 26, 2018

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January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941 Auschwitz was composed of a group of three large and 40 smaller camps used for slave labor, unethical medical experiments and monstrous killing grounds where prisoners were gassed and cremated. As the Soviets headed for Auschwitz, the German Gestapo began a murder spree and began destroying the facility in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes. When the Soviets arrived, the encountered 648 corpses and more than 7000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of dresses, suits and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 74 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 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 74 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.

Reindustrialization After The Fall- Part 1, By Redneck Granddaddy

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Okay, the balloon went up, but you were prepared enough that two years later, you and your family are still alive at your retreat. Great! Right? Well, maybe. Let’s take inventory.

Post-Balloon Evaluation

Food Storage

Your food in storage is about gone. You have been gardening for the last ten years and thought you were golden, but the first year wasn’t near big enough. The second year you went way big and plowed more land while the tractor still ran, but you didn’t have the seed or fertilizer. Still, you carried on with composting and seed saving, but most of your heirloom varieties were really hybrids mislabeled and sold as heirlooms. That was a teachable moment.

It’s good to be frugal, but Gullible is the name of a large, vicious dog that sooner or later bites everyone in the butt, and if you had read the fine print you would have seen that they were sourced in China. Oh, you can hear that dog barking now! Birds, insects, squirrels, deer, and rabbits got more of the crop than you did anyway. One thing you got right was building the wood-fired dehydrator, because you can never have enough jars and lids!

Continue reading“Reindustrialization After The Fall- Part 1, By Redneck Granddaddy”

A Long Shot: Looking for Information on 2nd MI Bn. Project Alpine Cactus

The following information request on Project Alpine Cactus is a long shot, but given SurvivalBlog’s large and diverse readership, it is worth a try:

As a young Lieutenant back in 1986 I was posted TDY to the U.S. Army 2nd Military Intelligence Battalion (AE), at Echterdingen, West Germany.  That unit was part of the 207th Military Intelligence Brigade, under VII Corps, at the Stuttgart Army Airfield kasserne. While there, I worked a Guardrail live mission. While working at the Integrated Processing Facility (IPF), I read a classified report on an mission that had been conducted a few years earlier. As I recall, the mission was under code name Project Alpine Cactus (or perhaps it was Operation Alpine Cactus.) The report probably would have been dated sometime in 1982 or 1983. Since 36+ years have now elapsed, there is a good chance that I can get approval in a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR), under the terms of EO 12958 or EO 13526.

Because this was a classified project and presumably still classified, I cannot mention what operational tasking the mission involved. (The project code name was not classified, but the report’s content were classified.) It was fascinating to read. To put this in context, this was at the tail end of the Cold War. Germany was still divided. I was doing analysis in a Guardrail IPF at the time of the Chernobyl meltdown, the Operation Eldorado Canyon attack on Libya, and the La Belle West Berlin disco bombing. So it was an exciting time to be alive and Behind The Green Door. But when I read the Alpine Cactus report written just a few years earlier, I just sat for a while in stunned silence. It was one those great “something you can only read in a SCIF” experiences. I’m hoping to do some interviews and write a retrospective book about Project Alpine Cactus, following approval of my MDR.

No Luck Thusfar

To date, my MDR requests submitted to the National Archives at College Park, Maryland and to the NSA at Fort Meade have been fruitless. Both organizations have told me that my request “lacks specificity,” and have asked me to “refine and resubmit” my request. Specifically, what I’m lacking is the exact after-action report title, and/or its document number and/or the report’s date.  The other key piece of information I need is: Where were the classified holdings from the 2nd MI Battalion’s SCIF sent, at the time the unit was inactivated, in 1991?  (The unit was reactivated in 2001, and now headquartered at Wiesbaden Airfield, Germany. But I doubt that all of the archived 1980s intel holdings were sent back to the reactivated unit’s SCIF.)

So… Does anyone out there remember working for Colonel “Cactus Jack” at the 2nd MI, and remember any of the details on the Project Alpine Cactus after-action report’s cover sheet?  Please snail mail me (NO e-mails on this sensitive topic, please!), if you can provide me this information. Please use this address:

James Wesley, Rawles
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idah0 83845

Conclusion

It has been more than 36 years. So, now the truth can be told about Alpine Cactus. Credit should given to whom credit is deserved. However, because of Sources and Methods (SAM), this is not subject to automatic declassification. So unless I phrase my “Mother May I” question to the NSA just right, then the answer will continue to be no.

Thanks for your help, and Best ASA Regards,  – JWR

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 National Digital Currencies.

Precious Metals (National Digital Currencies):

To start, there is this at Barron’s: Is gold on the verge of breaking out?

o  o  o

Anyone serious about precious metals investing should consider the impact of the upcoming advent of national digital currencies. Some reports suggest that it will either be Israel or Norway to be the first to announce going cashless. The new digital currencies will probably use blockchain variants. I predict that once the first national announcement is made with a firm transition date, then it will immediately cause gold, silver, and to a lesser extent platinum to jump in price. The cryptocurrencies will also greatly benefit.

It all comes down to the huge amount of cash presently circulating in the gray and black markets.  The national digital currencies will create 100% transparency for taxing and law enforcement agencies to exploit. Those desiring to remain private/opaque in their transactions will surely seek alternatives. And it won’t just be criminals who’ll want privacy. Even Regular Joes will desire privacy. Once the first nation braves an announcement, then country after country will announce going digital. As each domino falls, there will be another wave of buying in precious metals, cryptos, and various tangible investments.  (The more liquid and fungible, the better.) Be ready, folks. If you wait until after the national digital currencies replacing printed cash are announced, then you will be buying your metals at a premium. Panic now, and beat the rush.

Forex:

Forex Trends: Will USD Fall to New Lows in 2018?

o  o  o

The last time I checked the US Dollar Index (USDI), it was at 88.585.  So it appears that I was corerct in my prediction of a Trump Weak Dollar policy.  I expect it to continue. Plan (and hedge!), accordingly.

Commodities:

Reuters had this exclusive: U.S. small refiners make surge of biofuel waiver requests – sources

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.  From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”  – Jean Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – January 25, 2018

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On January 25th, 1995, the world was minutes from nuclear annihilation. Russia’s early-warning defense radar detected an unexpected missile launch near Norway and calculated that they only had minutes before impact on Moscow. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the defense minister, and the chief of staff were informed of the missile launch and the nuclear command systems were switched to combat mode and the nuclear suitcases were activated for the first time in the history of the Soviet-made system.

Five minutes after launch Russian command determined that the missile’s impact point would be outside Russia’s borders and three minutes after that the determination was made that the missile launch was most likely not part of a surprise nuclear strike by Western nuclear submarines (only minutes before a counter-launch decision had to be reached). Later, it was revealed that the missile was carrying scientific instruments and Norway had notified 35 countries, including Russia, of the exact details of the launch, nine days before. The Russian Defense Ministry had neglected to inform the on-duty personnel at the early-warning center of the launch.

Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Thursday – January 25, 2018”

Clarity of Mind and Survival- Part 2, by The Recovering Feminist

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This is the second part of an article that focuses on the reality of forgiveness in a person’s survival mindset. It is not approached from a psychological perspective but recognizes that having a clear and sharp mind is critical not only for making good survival decisions but for making good decisions in general. In part one, we covered how forgiveness is essential to survival, vengeance v. mercy, and the sexual assault epidemic, including the harm of the “me too” trend. Let’s continue on.

Confront Evil

Some of the worst acts of betrayal happen to those in positions of vulnerability who feel helpless under the influence and power of evil men. We must be willing to listen carefully to the hurts of others and not be afraid to speak truth to both the victim and the offender. I am aware of a particular woman who was sexually assaulted by two medical professionals, one was a female and one was a male. The “licensed professionals” abused their power, using intimidation to hurt their patient. What happened to “first do no harm” in medicine?4 I cite this example simply to highlight the importance of confronting such abuse and bringing it out into the light. It takes courage to expose evil, but it is vital that people of conscience lead this fight and stand up to injustice.

Continue reading“Clarity of Mind and Survival- Part 2, by The Recovering Feminist”

Letter: Media Suppression- Another Voice Banned For Truth

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Hi Hugh,

It appears we have reached another point in saying what you believe is true. Helping others deal with crisis, will now lead to your ideas being suppressed from those that would benefit.

The author, Matt Bracken, has been banned from Facebook for 30 days and his Twitter feed has not been updated since the 17th of January. He had regularly been posting links and articles several times each day. In recent days, prior to his online disappearance, Matt had been very vocal about online censorship.

Matt’s online presence has been consistent about the dangers of about Muslim Immigration.

He also appeared on the same broadcast of the Hagmann Report with JWR. His first is novel, Enemies, Foreign and Domestic , predicted a Lone Gunman false flag operation which preceded the Vegas Massacre. His “Civil War 2 cube” and its accompanying article “When the Music Stops”, should be required reading for those interested in what America will look like after the days and weeks after a Grid-down scenario.

Perhaps Matt Bracken will return, however his archived material is still available, for now. – M.S.

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”. A real life Mad Max scenario is occurring right on the United States’ Southern border.

Politics

The FISA memo has been leaked, though it is heavily redacted. Still it’s quite interesting and a good peek at how the process works. It is also worth mentioning that Senators Feinstein and Schumer are working to get Twitter and Facebook to censor the memo. Though I feel that this is a dog and pony show. President Trump has the ability to declassify the entire FISA application, if he so chooses. Thanks to H.L. for the link.

o o o

It is difficult to enjoy a good cigar or pipe now with all the restrictions on tobacco, especially in states like California where nearly everything that is sold carries a label that it can cause cancer. Now coffee is next in line. There is a court case pending that may result in every cup of coffee sold carrying the “may cause cancer” warning. If only the Senators and Representatives of this state were required to wear that label on their foreheads. Perhaps a “Here’s your sign” label instead?

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

8

“The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Gen. Colin Powell

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 24, 2018

1

January 24 is the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the View From The Porch blog. This is also the birthday of René Barjavel (born 1911, died November 24, 1985). This prescient French science fiction author wrote several books with survivalist themes, including Ravage, which was titled Ashes, Ashes in its English translation.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 74 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 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 74 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.

Clarity of Mind and Survival- Part 1, by The Recovering Feminist

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Survival and a Clear Mind

Survival necessitates recognition of both outer and inner realities, both material and immaterial truth. We tend to think externally about survival. For instance, we think of addressing food storage, first-aid, efficiency, self defense, physical preparations, et cetera, but we fail to realize that all of these decisions are influenced first by a clear and sharp mind. We all have an inner life. Whether we acknowledge it or not, the inner life affects every decision we make. Harboring bitterness over past scorn or wallowing in the life experience of betrayal influences a person’s clarity of mind. Likewise, the mind of an offender consumed with guilt and refusing to yield to the mercy of forgiveness is equally affected.

A clear conscience and a sharp mind produce the best decisions. When pressures mount and survival is at stake, these two (clear conscience and sharp thinking) are crucial. A good way to assess your own conscience is to evaluate the health of your closest relationships– spouse, children, co-workers, neighbors, et cetera. Where do you stand with those who are closest to you?

Continue reading“Clarity of Mind and Survival- Part 1, by The Recovering Feminist”