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”. The public schools are making headlines again with their outrageous and immoral teachings. (And we are not talking about the latest fad of married female teachers having affairs with underage students here. Those incidents seem to be making daily headlines lately)

Cannibals!

Do you know who your neighbors are? One South African community is reeling after one man walked into the police station holding body parts and confessing to cannibalism with the statement “I’m tired of eating humans”. He was apparently part of a four man ring who would kill, cut up and serve the body parts. Through the course of the investigation, over 300 residents have confessed to knowing of the cannibalism and participating in it when they visited the man. There are allegations that the crime may be much larger as well. Thanks to W.W. for the link.

No Guilty Verdicts in Bundy Ranch Standoff Trial

Despite the defense having their hands tied while the government is under no such restrictions, there were no guilty verdicts returned by the Jury this week in the trials. some of the counts reached “not guilty” verdicts and the jury was deadlocked on the remaining counts. Judge Navaro has denied the defendants their rights to use the First and Second amendments in the trial and has stopped at least one of the defendants mid-testimony because obscure references to these fundamental rights. The judge is obviously working to avoid jury nullification. Thanks to B.B. for the link.

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How I Stopped Worrying and Used P.M.C.T.- Part 2, by D.D.

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Yesterday, I shared my background and how I retreated to my retreat cabin for 83 days.  I reemerged a changed person, maturing from “Doom Prepper” to someone with a greater appreciation for life and nature. I made some changes to accommodate my family and life situation. Still, I found contentment in living what would I would have considered a certain death trap years earlier. How did I do it?

My Answer: P.M.C.T.

P.M.C.T. stands for Prayer, Mindset, Confidence, and Training

Prayer

Without faith in something you are truly lost. Whether it is God, peace, humanity, or puppy dogs, you must find something positive and uplifting to motivate you. I allowed myself to be consumed in a sea of negativity and impending doom. Only by surrounding myself in the miracle of God’s glory in the woods was I able to swim out of the riptide that tried to drown me. I get it. The world is a miserable place full of liars, cheats, and psychopaths. It always has been. Rise above it and make your world a better place for you and your family. After all, that’s why we prep.

Mindset

One of the first things I did to rebuild on a solid foundation of prepping was to research actual collapse events. Not the fantasy, fiction, and hypotheticals but actual accounts of survival. There are countless stories of real people who have survived the terror of societal breakdowns due to economic collapse, war, famine, and genocide. They prove some things we already know, like the importance of toilet paper, stored food, weapons, and barter, but these stories also disprove some of the most common misconceptions that run rampant in Internet forums and some post-apocalyptic fiction novels. The story of “Ferfal” during the collapse of Argentina in the 90’s, Sarajevo under siege from snipers, and Venezuela today are just a few of the real-life survival stories we can learn from to improve our strategy and mindset.

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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 how to avoid Auction Fever. (See the Tangibles section, near the end of this column.)  Today’s column is terse, since JWR is traveling to view the eclipse.

 

Precious Metals:

The 46-Year Record of Platinum-Gold Ratios

Stocks:

Ron Paul: 50% stock market plunge ‘conceivable,’ but it’s not President Trump’s fault

 

Commodities:

Next, over at OilPrice.com: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Is Slowly Dying

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I missed this when it was posted back in April: 2020s To Be A Decade of Disorder For Oil

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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’s focus is on thermal night vision monoculars. (See the Gear section, near the end of this column.)

Books:

How Not To Be Hacked: The Definitive Guide for Regular People

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Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne

Music:

Silly Wizard: Wild & Beautiful

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Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – August 22, 2017

August 22nd, 1992 was the second day of the Incident at Ruby Ridge. FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounded Randy Weaver, Kevin Harrison and murdered Weaver’s wife, Vicki. It should be noted that in 1994, after being acquitted by a federal court, Weaver filed a federal civil rights case against the FBI and U.S. marshals stemming from the siege. In 1995 the government settled Weaver’s case for $3.1 million. It is commonly thought that had the Weaver family stayed with the trial, the award would have been the full $200 million. In true FBI style, Lon Horiuchi was not prosecuted by the Federal government. When Idaho brought manslaughter charges against him, the trial was moved to Federal court and dismissed. Horiuchi has also been accused of firing unauthorized shots at the Waco siege as well.

How I Stopped Worrying and Used P.M.C.T.- Part 1, by D.D.

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With the apparent imminent collapse that I have focused upon in my years of preparedness, I was worrying. My focus became a frantic effort. I made plans. Yet, wisdom came with P.M.C.T.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”-Proverbs 16:9

“Man plans and God laughs…” -old Yiddish adage

The Tenth Man Theory

In the 2013 zombie apocalypse movie World War Z the hero has a conversation with an Israeli Mossad agent about the Tenth Man Theory. It states (and I paraphrase) that in the midst of military planning, if nine people agree on a particular strategy or belief, the tenth man is duty-bound to disagree. The rationale behind this is to bring to light problems or other factors that sometimes the majority does not want to acknowledge or is blinded to due to a group-think/herd mentality. I have become my own 10th man, questioning and rethinking my entire strategy of preparedness.

I found it necessary to become my own “devil’s advocate” to prevent my emotional commitment to preparing from completely blinding me to what may become inconvenient realities. There were three realities I needed to see. First, what I was preparing for may happen completely different from what I had envisioned; second, I had to be more mentally prepared, no matter the circumstances; third, what I was preparing for may not happen at all.

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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 Gemini Technologies–the makers of Gemtech supressors.

Idaho (Gemtech)

First off, the announcement of S&Ws buy-out of Gemini Technologies was made in July. They are best known for their great Gemtech suppressors. Since then, the transition has reportedly gone smoothly.  The employees will also continue to work in Idaho. They will be in a new building in the small town of Meridian.  S&W was thrilled to gain Doc Dater’s very clever patents. And of course they’re also inheriting the company’s very loyal customer base. They have no  plans to move Gemini’s operations.  This acquisition leave S&W well-positioned. Why?  What if the Hearing Protection Acts gets through Congress. Yee-haw!

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Reader Bruce F. spotted this article: CCI Opens New .22 Rimfire Production Facility in Idaho. That should help relieve part of the chronic shortage!

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After months of hype, Northwest braces for solar eclipse

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The Redoubt News web site reports: Refugee Resettlement in Sandpoint? … meeting goes Awry but exposes intent. (Thanks to Greg B. for the link.)

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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”. Of special interest is “EARTH EX” as series of emergency exercises scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2017 (tomorrow). You might want to know if anyone in your local area is participating.

First Amendment

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order last week. This order effectively halted demonstrations at the Lee Monument for the next 90 days in Richmond. While his intentions may be good (he trying to avoid a repeat of Charlottesville violence) there is just one problem with it. It violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. McAuliffe denies that his order conflicts with the amendment. However, there is more than one constitutional law expert that says it does. Thanks to reader C.S. for the link.

Second Amendment

The Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, signed a bill establishing “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” forcing subjects to surrender their firearms. Any police or a member of the subjects family or household can file a petition with the court. This could lead to an order prohibiting firearms possession if the court believes the subject poses an imminent risk to themselves or others. Of course, we all know that police and family members never lie about such things, especially in domestic cases. As Reader W.W. put it: “This is why you hide a gun or two from everyone!”

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Preparedness Notes for Monday – August 21, 2017

In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon erupted with an estimated billion cubic yards of carbon dioxide gas. The gas had apparently been accumulating in the crater lake, held down by the weight of the water. When it finally erupted, the gas cloud smothered and killed every living animal, including insects, in its path until it dissipated. Outsiders learned of the disaster when they approached the villages and found animal and human bodies on the ground. The best estimate is that 1,700 people and thousands of cattle died.

Cold Steel Heavy Duty Sword Cane, by Pat Cascio

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The Cold Steel Heavy Duty Sword Cane may well be the strongest and without a doubt the sharpest real world sword cane ever built. In 25 years of testing and writing about knives, firearms, and all manner of survival gear, it was done on a professional basis, and I always tried to maintain an unbiased opinion. However, in the case of the Cold Steel Heavy Duty Sword Cane, it was tested for real world use—my own personal, medical use.

My Slow Hip Replacement Recovery

As this is being written, I’m in my eleventh week of recovery from hip replacement surgery. Quite honestly, the recovery is taking much longer than I expected or was led to believe it would. I’ve never been a very patient person, and I thought I’d be back to 100% a few weeks after the surgery. Such is not the case. I’m far from a total recovery, I’m sad to say. However, my therapist told me some weeks back that at that point in my recovery the average person scored a 30 and I scored 60 on a national average. Still, I wasn’t satisfied.

Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up the recovery from this type of surgery, and a full healing takes about a year. My orthopedic surgeon said I was doing so well that instead of returning for a checkup in six months, he told me to return in a year. Still, I’m not satisfied with the recovery time.

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Recipe of the Week: Susie’s Creamy Pie Recipe

The heat of the summer and the busy times call for something fast, easy, and tasty. Try this creamy pie. I highly recommend it. We tried and really liked a mixture of 1 cup blueberries and 1 cup diced strawberries. We also used some fresh cherries from the store for another version, but be sure and remove the pits.

Ingredients

  • One pie crust, baked and cooled (empty)
  • 1 small tub of Cool Whip
  • 1 small package of “Fat free” cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
  • Packets of Stevia
  • 2 cups of fresh fruit (whole blueberries or pitted cherries, sliced strawberries or peaches, or some combination like blueberries and strawberries)

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