Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, 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 your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

An update on my cataracts: My right eye (with a lens optimized for close distances) is healing slowly, with some residual fuzziness.  So I’ve postponed my second cataract surgery to Wednesday, February 26th. That will be an operation on my left eye, with a new implanted lens optimized for driving distances (20 feet to infinity). I’m sorry that I’ve been missing a few blog posts, or posting truncated columns.  Lord willing, l’ll be back to my full slate of daily posts by about March 15th.

As usual, Lily has been driving me to Coeur d’Alene for the surgeries and the “day-after” follow-up examinations. She is a saint!

I will have heavy lifting restrictions for another three weeks. I’m hopeful that I’ll be back to my regular ranch chores by March 20th. We have a pugnacious “spare” ram who needs to go in the chest freezer.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.

And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:

And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:

That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:

That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” – Deuteronomy 29:1-13 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 21, 2025

On February 21, 1857, the U.S. Congress outlawed foreign currency as legal tender in the US. Pictured is a Spanish 8 Reales silver coin.

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February 21, 1937, the League of Nations banned foreign national “volunteers” in the Spanish Civil War.

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Because of my two recent cataract surgeries, I won’t be posting much today.  Thanks for your patience.

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We are in need of entries for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $950,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 117 ends on March 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at some shortages in the turbulent precious metals markets.

Precious Metals:

WSJ: Why Dealers Are Flying Gold Bars by Plane From London to New York.

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Mike Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Market Dislocations Spark High Drama in Asia, Europe, and U.S.. Here is an excerpt:

“This issue here is obvious. As metal flows out of London into New York, the gold and silver holdings across the pond could eventually become severely depleted. As we reported a couple of weeks ago, this dynamic is creating significant uncertainty in both the gold and silver markets.

As for the specifics on the weekly price action here, gold – which was rising quickly earlier today and pushing up towards $2,950 – has fallen back sharply now and currently comes in at $2,905. Despite the pullback here today, the yellow metal is still up 1.1% since last Friday’s close and appears headed for a 7th straight weekly advance.”

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How the U.S. Treasury Can Cash In Big Using Its Gold Revaluation Account.

Economy & Finance:

Fears of massive crash on Wall Street after America’s top 50 companies see record levels of ‘fragility’.

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Over at Zero Hedge: Lost In Today’s Job Revision Chaos: Over 1 Million Foreign-Born Workers Found A Job… And No Native Borns.

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The Day When the ATMs Dried Up – What Would This Crisis Do to America?

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Purposes, plans, and achievements of men may all disappear like yon cloud upon the mountain’s summit; but, like the mountain itself, the things which are of God shall stand fast for ever and ever.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 20, 2025

February 20, 1792: The US postal service was created, charging postage rates of 6-to-12 cents, depending on distance. The first US Postage stamps were not issued until 1847.

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Today is the birthday of novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson (1926–2013). He wrote many sci-fi television scripts. His novella I Am Legend later was adapted into three different movies in the next five decades, and his story Bid Time Return became the charming movie Somewhere In Time.

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Because of my recent cataract surgery, I won’t be posting much for the next couple of days.  Thanks for your patience.

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We are in need of entries for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $950,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 117 ends on March 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, another look at the rise of A.I. fakery.

A.I. Fake Videos are Destroying the Internet

Tam of the View From The Porch blog suggested this article: A ‘True Crime’ Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-Generated. JWR’s Comments: We need to develop greater discernment of the YouTube “Voices”. I think you know the text-to-speech generated authoritative flat American accent voices that I’m talking about.  The ones that are layered over videos or even just AI-gen still images that don’t quite match what is being described.  These A.I.-gen videos are absolutely mindless schlock. Some are easy to spot, but others are more sophisticated–especially those that clone voices. Most of these videos are created just to garner viewer clicks and to sell advertisements. Even the tutorials on how to use AI-gens are AI-generated! The sad truth is that millions of folks have no discernment and will spend hours watching this garbage. At the rate they’re progressing, A.I.-generated videos will soon be the majority of what is served up on YouTube. I suggest that my readers divorce themselves from YouTube and get back to old-school human-written blogs and books. – JWR

West Texas Measles Outbreak is Spreading

NBC News reports: In rural West Texas, a measles outbreak grows with no end in sight.

Russia’s Shadow War Against the West

The Wall Street Journal reports: A New Spy Unit Is Leading Russia’s Shadow War Against the West. JWR’s Comment: The Russian term for active measures is: активные мероприятия.  (Anglicized: “aktivnye meropriyatiya”.)
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Living in Washington, you can’t take politics too seriously. I draw the line at honesty. I have no time for political hacks who say things they don’t believe because they get paid to.” – Tucker Carlson

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 19, 2025

On February 19, 1807, US Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama for treason. He was later acquitted.

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February 19,1884: The “Enigma Outbreak” of more than 60 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana reportedly killed over a thousand people. The origin of these nearly simultaneous storms remains enigmatic.

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Today’s feature piece is by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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We are in need of entries for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $950,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 117 ends on March 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

OffGrid Faraday Bags, by Thomas Christianson

Faraday bags offer both privacy and protection. They protect sensitive electronic equipment from damage that might arise from EMP or Carrington-like events. They also provide privacy for equipment that can be traced or surveilled electronically. The bags block electromagnetic signals, rendering the equipment untraceable and unreadable as long as it remains encased in the bags.

OffGrid Faraday Bags is a cybersecurity company that makes Faraday bags for a wide range of electronic equipment including mobile phones, tablets, notebook computers, key fobs, passports with RFID chips, and similar items. Their bags are designed for the military, law enforcement, intelligence, and personal security markets.

I recently tested OffGrid’s Premium and Utility bags for mobile phones. I found both bags to be effective at blocking electronic signals. They were also impressively water resistant.Continue reading“OffGrid Faraday Bags, by Thomas Christianson”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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The hollow-point ban: New Jersey bans safe, effective ammunition.  JWR’s Comments:  The illogic of this legislation is stupendous. New Jersey is largely urbanized, with a high population density, overall. So why are they banning ammo with expanding bullets that rarely penetrate residential and business walls, in favor of FMJ bullets that can penetrate multiple walls? Give those legislators a Darwin Award!

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Our friend Commander Zero of the venerable Notes From The Bunker blog reminded me of the LDS Safely Gathered In storage food recipe web page.  The website hasn’t been updated since 2008, but the recipes are all proven and just about timeless.

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St. Funogas sent this:

“There are two pertinent news items I’ve seen since I submitted the article, “Financial Preps for TEOTWAWKI.”:

DOGE’s first numbers sounded like good news when they announced on X last week, January 28th. The $1 billion per day they’re saving however is a goal, not a current event. Surprisingly, only 4-5% of Uncle Sam’s budget goes to pay salaries so hiring freezes and eliminating DEI departments won’t do much. If the contract buyout is taken up by 5-10% of employees as DOGE predicts, it will only save $23-$46 billion, not $100 billion. It’s important to see the math of their numbers.

Saving $2 trillion dollars per year to balance the budget will have to take a huge painful bite out of every single department. DOGE has already walked back their unrealistic goal from $2 trillion to $1 trillion. And as expected, nothing can happen without a lawsuit so before the horse was even out of the chute a judge stopped the hiring freeze, and Trump had to rescind his executive order freezing federal grants. And the unions have only barely started to howl.  It’s going to be a tough row to hoe with more court challenges ahead.

After I submitted this article, David Stockman, Reagan’s OMB (Office of Management and Budget), published his new book How to Cut $2 Trillion and I got one hot off the press. I highly recommend it. There are lots of numbers so it’s not for everyone. He presents an excellent plan on how to balance the budget, while frequently reminding the reader it won’t be happening any time soon: “To be sure, even this relatively judicious mix [of cuts across the board] is sure to ignite firestorms on the banks of the Potomac like never before.” He should know, he and Reagan tried to make many of these same cuts. Even eliminating wasteful and wasteful agencies will leave them “screaming to high heaven in the swamplands of DC.”

Stockman’s plan to cut $2 trillion out of the budget is to completely eliminate 16 federal agencies such as the Dept of Education and FBI, reduce 9 others by 50% (i.e. IRS, EPA, NASA), and cut all other non-defense programs by 34%. Next, cut the defense budget in half. A full $1.1 trillion savings comes from reducing “entitlement” program dollars and restructuring every program from Social Security and Medicare, to student aid and “welfare.”

It’s clear to see why the federal budget can never be balanced, interest expense will continue to grow exponentially, and why we should all be making our own financial preparations.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.” – James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume 3

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — February 18, 2025

Today is the birthday of astronaut Theodore Cordy “Ted” Freeman (February 18, 1930 – October 31, 1964.)  He is pictured above with Buzz Aldrin. Ted Freeman and his wife Faith were friends of my mother and father.  Both my father (Donald Robert Rawles) and Ted Freeman were stationed at Bryan Air Force Base in the early 1950s, and they rented houses three blocks apart, in College Station, Texas. Both Ted and my father were born in the same year. The two families often played the card game Bridge together, and Faith and my mother were in a play production together. Oddly, the Freemans named their daughter Faith, and they often referred to her as “Faith, Junior.” (They couldn’t call her “Little Faith”, for fear of “Oh Ye of Little Faith” jokes.)  About ten years later, while training as an astronaut in the Gemini space program, Ted was killed in a catastrophic birdstrike flying accident, while flying a T-38 Talon jet trainer. He was the first casualty of NASA’s manned space program. Fittingly, Ted Freeman’s name is inscribed on a memorial plaque that was left on the moon, by Apollo astronauts. – JWR

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Today’s feature article is from frequent guest author Brandon Smith.

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We need more entries for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $950,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 117 ends on March 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

 

Age of Transparency: We Need Mass Surveillance of Governments, by Brandon Smith

In the wake of Donald Trump’s return to the White House there has been an atmosphere of palpable panic among the usual suspects. Establishment bureaucrats are screaming bloody murder in aisles like spoiled toddlers at Walmart after being told they’re not going to get whatever they want from the American taxpayer. These people are long overdue for a spanking and a nap.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) group has wasted no time in pursuing total transparency of the federal government’s funding operations and I have to say, the reaction from the leftist establishment is even more unhinged than I could have imagined. In the past week, Democrats and activist judges have actually attempted to stop the new head of the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, from accessing funding allocation records. In other words, the person in charge of the Treasury is not allowed to investigate how the Treasury is spending American tax dollars.Continue reading“Age of Transparency: We Need Mass Surveillance of Governments, by Brandon Smith”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. In today’s column: Tren de Aragua gang members arrested in Bozeman, Montana.

Region-Wide

Oregon’s Battle for Ideological Identity Heats Up as Eastern Counties Push for Secession.

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Take note that Redoubt News has switched to Substack format.

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California seems to be getting the brunt of the La Niña Atmospheric River. But the Inland Northwest has a fair amount of rain and snow expected in the next two weeks.

Idaho

Illegal guns and drugs lead to Idaho County arrest.

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Kootenai County Sheriff partners with Border Patrol to assist in deportations.

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Wallace, Idaho prepares for Extreme SkiJor, boosting local economy.

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A video about Priest Lake: Jewel of The North — Outdoor Idaho.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”