Preparedness Notes for Friday – November 17, 2017

On this day in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were submitted to the states for ratification. They differed from the Constitution in that they emphasized the primacy of the states. This brings to mind the dangers of convening a Constitutional Convention, because the last time this happened the Articles of Confederation were thrown out and totally replaced by the Constitution. Do you honestly believe that our politicians today could craft a document that so thoroughly protects the rights of the individual as they did then?

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SurvivalRealty.com is giving away an autographed copy of Survivors by James Wesley, Rawles on their Facebook page. If you have a social media presence, you can go to their Facebook page and sign up by sharing the post with your friends and leaving a comment. (Survivors is HJL’s favorite novel in the Patriots series.)

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A Stitch in Time- Part 1, by a Florida Mom

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On a practical note, are you including a basic sewing repair kit in your preparations? Whether you’re aiming towards self-sufficiency or a large scale disaster, there are some basic tools that you need to keep on hand. I’m talking about more than a few pre-threaded needles, a button, and two safety pins! I keep a basic sewing repair kit with the above items in my emergency bag, but my supplies at home provide a multi-purpose repair kit, as well as supplying what will be needed to make and repair clothing and pack items. Are you ready to repair, reuse, recycle, and re-design?

Basic Repairs

What needs repairs?

  • Backpacks and straps
  • Tents and tarps
  • Leather items- belts, shoes
  • Clothing- patches, buttons, zippers, rips and tears

Backpacks and Straps

Depending on the construction, this could require carpet or nylon thread and a heavy duty needle; or, if a nylon webbing strap pulled through, you’ll need a butane lighter (or a candle) and pliers to melt and crimp the end before re-stitching. You can re-stitch through the same holes if they haven’t pulled through.

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Letter: EMP Proofing a 1988 F250 Diesel

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JWR,

In the book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” a device for $20 is mentioned. Where can I get it? – H.P.

JWR’s Comment:

Go to your local Ford dealership’s parts department. Ask them for a spare “glow plug controller” for your truck (model and year.). If they have one on hand, ask them to see it. If they ask an exorbitant price, then look for the same part at you local car and truck wrecking yard.

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 investing in tax lien properties. (See the Tangibles Investing section, near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

First up, Two-Thirds Of The Top Primary Silver Miners Suffered Production Declines In 2017 – SRSrocco Report

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Metals Focus: PV, Auto Demand For Silver Rising

 

Stock Markets:

It is surprising to see at article like this posted at the CNBC Perpetual Cheering Section: There’s something weird going on that’s worrying the markets

Commodities:

I generally shy away from posting links to “sponsored” posts, but this one has some merit: Cobalt Prices To Rocket As Tech Giants Scramble For Supplies

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Next, it is noteworthy that there has been a 31% gain in the past year: ICE Brent Crude Oil Front Month

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Preparedness Notes for Thursday – November 16, 2017

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November 16th is the birthday of Michael D. Echanis (born 1950, died September 1978), a former United States Army Special Forces and 75th Ranger Battalion enlisted man. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with “V” device as a LRRP in the Vietnam War. He was born and raised in eastern Oregon. Echanis was killed while working for the CIA in Nicaragua in 1978 in a plane crash along with his colleague Charles Sanders and members of the Nicaraguan armed forces. There was conjecture that the plane was destroyed in flight by a saboteur’s bomb. JWR’s novel Survivors includes a minor character from Oregon with the surname Echanis, as a small homage to Mike Echanis.

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There are only two more weeks left in Round 73 of the SurvivalBlog writing contest. If you are planning on getting an article in on this round, please send it in to us as soon as possible.

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Top Six Common Questions Concerning An EMP, by Old Bobbert

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Maybe you, like many, have questions about an EMP. As a friendly, and hopefully a pleasing feature, this article is being edited as it is being typed so as to be read as though it were a friendly two-person, social conversation.

The Sit-Rep Situation That Initiated Research

The sit-rep situation would necessarily be two good friends talking about a recent article concerned about a potential EMP situation caused by a strong ego-driven leader of a small Asian nation with an attitude and an ego to match. We will call our two friends Bob and Ray. Actually Bob (Old Bobbert ), that’s me, did call his friend Ray about the Texas flooding disaster. Ray lives in Texas about seventy-five miles from Houston, and they are safely outside the coastal flood area. We did talk about the possibility of a sneak EMP attack for about forty-five exciting minutes. We have similar backgrounds with a strong leaning towards preparedness and security measures concerning our families and homes. Friends for 40+ years, we had no idea that we knew so little about a real situation that could be so serious, so deadly, and may be very soon.

Embarrassing It Took So Long

It was embarrassing to say the least; he’s eighty, and I’m seventy-six. We should have known better, long ago. Thus, we now have this article for our families and for you. That call prompted serious research so Bobbert could have current and up-to-date accurate information for his wife and a first edition copy of this article for Ray and his wife in Texas.

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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”. Things are happening fast on the African continent. It will be interesting to see who the dictator of the week will be in Zimbabwe.

Tourniquets

Reader G.P. sent in this aptly named article: You Have the Rest of Your Life to Get a Tourniquet. The difference between life and death can be just seconds when you have a major arterial bleed. You never know when you will end up with one of those. The article profiles an Iranian police attempting a “non-lethal” shot in the leg to a bank-robber waving a knife. The bank robber then proceeds to bleed out in just about 20 seconds. My first reaction was “That guy shouldn’t have robbed the bank” and then I started thinking about all the bystanders and the U.S. police propensity to accidentally shoot bystanders. Hmmm, carrying a tourniquet all the time is starting to make much more sense now. (Warning: graphic video.)

Second Amendment

In his latest interview, Joe Biden doesn’t believe the man who stopped the Texas church shooter should have had an AR-15, despite the fact that the bad guy had one also. He then droned on and on about his track record of anti-American gun control laws. Of course, this is coming from the guy who thinks you should just blast away with a shotgun through a closed front door, or randomly fire shots in the air from your balcony. Old gaffe-a-minute is at it again. And this is the man who still has his eye on a presidential run in 2020. Of course, that man (Willeford) specifically says that if he had not had his AR-15, but had run out of his house with only a pistol, he would not have been able to deal with Kelley’s body armor. Thanks to T.J. for the link.

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Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – November 15, 2017

After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress, sitting in its temporary capital of York, Pennsylvania, agreed to adopt the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union on November 5th, 1777. Of course, the last of the 13 states, Maryland, took until March 1, 1781 to ratify the agreement.

Also on this day, Charles Dickens published the final installment of A Tale of Two Cities in Dickens’ circular.

Guest Article: Shooting Second Amendment Blanks- Part 2, by David M. Zuniga

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Partial List of Our Servants’ Felonies (continued)

Forget the fake “war on terror” and Islamic jihad kindled and reinforced by the CIA. Forget the saber-rattling little fat turd in North Korea, who could be taken out tomorrow by U.S. Special Forces but instead is goaded by the war industry. The truth is: the arrogant organized crime operation known as The Deep State now makes the U.S. Congress the most pressing, potent enemy of these sovereign States and People.

It is long overdue that We The People begin to “execute the Laws of the Union” against this Democrat/Republican machine that:

  • Invites enemies across our borders to provide cheap labor for its patrons in industry,
  • Refuses to throttle the lawless courts under its aegis,
  • Continues to run the largest counterfeiting operation on earth in its concession to the FED cartel,
  • Continues to operate the largest extortion and payroll-skimming operation on earth in its concession to the IRS,
  • Continues to load its sovereigns down with rules, regulations, fees, and programs that it does not have to live under,
  • Continues to engage in felony insider trading every day, making millions by buying and shorting stocks of industries that it regulates or supports,
  • Pays itself whatever it decides, from our payroll accounts, and
  • Pays itself benefits and pension to the grave, while we work to make ends meet!

Continue reading“Guest Article: Shooting Second Amendment Blanks- Part 2, by David M. Zuniga”

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 investing in champion bulls. (See the Tangibles Investing section, near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

Global Gold Investment Demand To Overwhelm Supply During Next Market Crash

 

Stock Markets:

World’s Top Tech Giants Amass $1.7 Trillion in Monster Year

 

Commodities:

OPEC Concedes That U.S. Shale Won’t Die

Troubling Trends:

Over at Bloomberg (with auto-start video) The U.S. Yield Curve Is Flattening and Here’s Why It Matters

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Michael Snyder: This Is What A Pre-Crash Market Looks Like

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Reader Gregg P. spotted this: Venezuela just defaulted, moving deeper into crisis…
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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 Basic Survival: A Beginner’s Guide, by David Nash

Books (Basic Survival: A Beginner’s Guide):

A great new book is not officially scheduled for release until November 21st, but the publisher is reportedly already shipping orders: Basic Survival: A Beginner’s Guide, by David Nash. It is highly recommended.  I see that its Amazon overall sales rank jumped from around #200,000 a week ago, to now around #20,800.

This book is the perfect gift for any friends, neighbors, relatives, or co-workers who are new to prepping.  I wrote the book’s Foreword. Full Disclosure:  I was not compensated for writing the Foreword. Nor will I profit from the sales of this book, other than the usual Amazon Associates sales commissions that I earn from links to any other book. – JWR

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Here is a new addition to Avalanche Lily’s bedside book stack: Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs

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That will end up on the shelf right next to this old standby: Herbal Medicine Natural Remedies: 150 Herbal Remedies to Heal Common Ailments

 

Movies and Television:

The Unseen Holocaust. This 2014 documentary is worth watching. Here is a description: “Years of painstaking research by film historian Dr. Jeremy Hicks into the Russian State Film Archives uncovered new Holocaust footage which brings to light shocking new evidence of Nazi death squads. “The Unseen Holocaust” offers an important new, if disturbing, insight into the origins of the Nazi genocide.” (Available on DVD.  Also available for free download for Amazon Prime members.)

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Idaho: The Movie. A highly-rated 2017 documentary film. (Available on DVD. Also available for free download for Amazon Prime members.)  By the way, the book seen on the narrator’s desk at the opening of the film is one of my favorite regional histories: Idaho For The Curious.

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And, as long as you are documentary mode, take and hour to also watch: Elk in America.  This one too is available for free download on Amazon Prime.  The narration by Stacey Keach is a bit insipid at times, but the video photography is fantastic.

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