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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Guest Article: Shooting Second Amendment Blanks- Part 1, by David M. Zuniga

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With every real and false-flag shooting in this republic, statists and liberals re-kindle their heated attacks on “our rights under the 2nd Amendment”. The constant reversion back to that Amendment, instead of looking to the authority and duty we have under Article 1 of the Constitution, is a self-destructive habit. Led by gun organizations supposedly on our own side, we keep handing the gun-grabbers easy victories by simply not knowing the powers and duties of “We The People” that we codified in the Constitution.

Tactical Civics™ is a new way of life that can finally put full-spectrum popular sovereignty in the hands of every American who will accept that responsibility. If only half of 1% of the American people will take our duty and authority seriously, we turn the tables forever on Washington DC’s Deep State and collusive media.

Firearms Are Necessary But Not Sufficient

We The People are arming ourselves as never before.  That’s fine; but free republics and especially their rule of law are maintained by wisdom (including tactical wisdom), not primarily by force of arms.  Imagine: We The People, the sovereigns over the Constitution and the government we created and limited by that law, have never attempted to enforce the Constitution; not a single time.  Why start shooting lawless public servants when we haven’t taken the first law enforcement step yet?

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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 anti-Redoubt journalists. (See the Region-Wide section, near the end of this column.)

Region-Wide (Anti-Redoubt Journalists):

A new article series just got started at the leftward leaning Sandpoint Reader: The American Redoubt Series: An Introduction. JWR’s Comments: They’ve promised to be objective. I’ll just wait and see how the series is handled. But it is probably not coincidental that they already juxtaposed a photo and text link to an article on the Ruby Ridge standoff. There is nothing like a little Guilt By Lack of Association. This is straight out of the SPLC playbook.

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And for even more strident bias, there is this, over at Buzzfeed: Welcome To Idaho: Now Go Home–Wackadoodles, Establishment Hacks, And The Big, Ugly, Local Battle For The Heart Of The GOP. JWR’s Comments: The author, Anne Helen Peterson, couldn’t even wait to get past the headline and the first subhead to make an insult and a mis-characterization. Her article is a none-too subtle smear, attempting to make conservatives and Redoubters look like racists. But her claims seem laughable, when you see that the article includes a photo of Alex Barron. He is one of the key pro-Redoubt leaders of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, and he is black. The American Redoubt movement is essentially color blind, just as every interest group in America should be. For the record:  I have much more in common with black Christians than I do with white Atheists or white New Age crystal fondlers.)


Idaho

VERIFY: Is a potential Idaho Power rate increase linked to a surplus of renewable energy? (Thanks to Rich B. for the link.)

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I just heard about a fairly new manufacturing company in Dalton Gardens, Idaho. It is called Idaho Suppressor Company. They make great quality suppressors, primarily from titanium.
Their address is:
   6040 N. Government Way, Suite #101
  Dalton Gardens, Idaho 83815
   Telephone: (208) 772-3700

 

Montana

A little fun, Montana style: The Turkey Whisperer. (Thanks to T.P. for the link.)

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Obviously, judges and juries take some sinful behavior very seriously, in Montana: Great Falls man gets 60 years in prison for raping girl

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”. Most troubling this week is Symantec’s revelation of just how far hackers have penetrated into the U.S. power grid.

From the Desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large

Edward Poitevent is at the mercy of Casper the Invisible Frog. The U.S. fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has determined that his land would be an excellent habitat for the Mississippi gopher frog (because it once ranged there at some point) so they have declared it a sanctuary rendering it commercially worthless. There is just a few problems. All the trees have to be cut down and replanted on all 1,500 acres, the underbrush has to be cleared and/or burned on a yearly basis and the ponds on the property have to be refurbished every year. They expect Poitevent to pay for it too. Poitevent describes it as having to build a $34 million frog hotel that will never be occupied. So now the government can steal your land over animals that don’t even live there.

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Dr Kevin Menes was in charge of the ED on the night of the Las Vegas shooting. He had preplanned and through through tough mass casualty situations and had mentally rehearsed the plans and when called into action, his work resulted in saving literally hundreds of lives. Not all heroes wear capes. Preplanning, asking hard questions and coming up with solutions before situations arise works. In his case, it led to medal-worth performance.

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