Notes for Tuesday – February 07, 2017

On this day in London, Benjamin Franklin published An Imaginary Speech in defense of American courage. The speech was intended to counter an unnamed officer’s comments to Parliament that the British need not fear the colonial rebels, because “Americans are unequal to the People of this Country [Britain] in Devotion to Women, and in courage and worse than all, they are religious.” Franklin’s response included his usual wit and acuity.

February 7th, 1867, is also the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder (died February 10, 1957). SurvivalBlog highly recommends the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which are awesome books, as well as her biography. It may be of no surprise that they were Sarah Latimer’s childhood favorites.

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Don’t forget, Ready Made Resources has a very limited supply of Knight Vision AN/PVS-30 Night Vision Weapon Site available. These have seen action in the Gulf but are “like new” or have been refurbished. Normally over $11,000, you can get them for under $5000. There are only a few left, so move fast. A moderately well-trained civilian shooter recently did some shooting with one of these with a .308 at just over 1,000 yards, and got consistent dings on a 10”x14” steel plate, in just dim moonlight! – JWR

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Today, we present another entry for Round 69 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 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 with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel 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, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $2,400 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. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. An infrared sensor/imaging camouflage shelter from Snakebite Tactical in Eureka, Montana (A $350+ value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  4. 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,
  5. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  6. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  7. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a $125 Montie gear Gift certificate.,
  9. 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), and
  10. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).
  11. A $250 gift certificate to Tober’s Traditions, makers of all natural (organic if possible) personal care products, such as soap, tooth powder, deodorant, sunscreen, lotion, and more.

Round 69 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.

How Do I Get Prepared for Emergencies?, by Justin Case

Start by considering all the elements of the question you just asked yourself. Think it through carefully! Jot down your most obvious thoughts, since we often forget what we were thinking if we don’t. Don’t panic! Even if you are in an emergency situation that you are just realizing you are not prepared for, thinking is the key to making it. Look around you, and catalog the things that may help you immediately. Select the most critical actions, and start putting them into play. Yes, this is when most people start to think about being prepared. Now that you are aware of these types of situations, you do not want to be caught in them, or at least not caught in them again. Almost at the same moment you realize that your resources are severely limited, you also recognize that you don’t have a lot left after the bills are paid at the end of the month. How can you prepare with such limited resources?

Step 1: Assess Your Situation

What are the most likely emergency situations you may find yourself in? For instance, I live in the middle of the country, so I don’t have to worry much about hurricanes; however, tornados are a regular threat. I don’t have to worry about my house being flooded, but the other side of the town I live in does. Even though my house will not be flooded, we do have to deal with the displacement of all those people whose homes are and the interruption of normal city services, such as water, fire, and police protection, et cetera. These are examples of the most likely emergencies you will face and the ones you should effectively plan for first. List and prioritize the emergencies you are most likely to face. How are you going to deal with each one?

Next, list the resources (every day items) you already have on hand. You already own many of the things you need to get by during an emergency; you don’t realize it quite often, because you use these things every day (and you constantly have to resupply them). Now, you are ready to build an emergency plan. You know what you are planning to face, and you know what resources you currently have available with which to face it.

Step 2: Evaluate your Emergency Plan

What resources do you lack, or are short on, to make your plan work in the most likely situations? Which resources that you lack will be most essential in the most common emergencies? What resources can be used for every day as well as emergencies? For instance, cast iron cookware is expensive to buy if you buy it new, but once you have it, it will last a lifetime (and then a few more lifetimes, since we have our parent’s and grandparent’s cookware, and it is still working great, and will be when our kids inherit it, although we have already provided them with sets as holiday presents). How much will your budget allow you to add resources you lack?

Once you understand what you have and what you need, and, yes, what you want, you are ready to start building a totally prepared household. Once you understand your budget, you can build a plan to acquire the items you have identified and classified as necessary in their order of importance. As to acquiring them, your imagination is the only limit you have, but in order to start you thinking, here are some of the ways I have acquired many of the items I have. Garage sales, flea markets, and auctions are all great ways to find things less expensively than buying them new. Here you must sometimes clean and restore the items to some degree, but that is a skill we all need to develop. Repurposing items instead of sending them to the landfill is limited only by your imagination. Figuring out alternative methods of doing tasks is limited only by your imagination. Many of the items that you find that are high dollar purchases can often be built using recycled materials. Compost tumblers are great, but eleven pallets and a little baling wire is all that is needed to build a three compartment compost bin. Add a pitchfork, which if you scrounge the pallets, and they are readily available, will be your only cost. Normally you can pick up a pitchfork for around twenty-five dollars, or even less at an auction, flea market, or garage sale.

Along with the items you need to acquire, you also need to acquire skills. For instance, cooking on an electric/gas range is radically different from cooking on an open fire. Learning to build the fire, determining the different timeframes for adequate cooking, and acquiring the proper techniques are all skills that may be necessary in a survival situation. To develop them, you must practice them, even if it is an occasional weekend cooking in the backyard or going camping. Everyone in your family as they get old enough needs to develop these skills.

Recognizing your limitations and those of your family members is also a critical knowledge that you need to develop. It is important to build a community that can depend on each other in times of emergencies. Start with your family, both nuclear and extended (for me, family includes those that I worship with), and then the addition of your friends and neighbors is next. Some will not be interested in building a totally prepared household, but some will, and you can start organizing a community of preparedness in the same way you organize a community watch, which should be part of any preparedness plan. Plan for how you will deal with those who do not want to be involved, because when an emergency happens, and especially if it is a long-term emergency, they will have to be dealt with.

Understand what government services may be available in an emergency, but don’t depend on them being there. Also understand what dangers they will be to the plans you and your community have made. Governments tend to act slow, but when they react, they often over react and can become a threat to you and your family’s safety and security.

Building a totally prepared household is a long-term process. It is a mindset, a mindset of self-reliance, that allows us to grow and develop our resources and skills, our thinking and believing, that keeps us from panic when faced with the unknown. Day by day in every way we grow mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. As we grow, we improve our chances of surviving, and that is the ultimate goal of a totally prepared household. It is a task that is never finished, but one that is always adapting to the changing environment and circumstances surrounding us.

Letter: The Sad, Silent Preppers

I enjoy reading SurvivalBlog and a couple of other sites. It consoles what I call myself as “the sad, silent preppers.” “Who are they”, you ask? They are the ones like me. My wife thinks I am insane and not trusting God enough and gets angry when I show her the Scriptures. The good thing is that she doesn’t talk to me for a couple of days after that. My children understand why I do it, but they have absolutely no enthusiasm in it. My in-laws also think I am totally crazy but for different reasons. “Nothing like that will ever happen; God wouldn’t allow it to happen to America.”

I have started off and on in this journey over the past 4-5 years, with less than desirable results. I tried a small garden this year, the first one in five years. It was only three items and a fall garden, so the results were also very minimal. I had zero help from my wife, and my last son at home liked to help with the watering and digging up the hard Georgia soil. I think next year’s garden will be a combination of pots, vertical gardening, and possibly straw bale gardening. We are moving in the June-July time frame, so I would like something easily portable. I don’t expect any help with this garden either.

I admit to keeping the wrath down at the house; I have been doing my prepping covertly. I buy beans and rice in smaller packages every payday and put them in a five gallon bucket than can hold food items. I will add to this as time goes, but I hope to eventually have beans, rice, sugar, honey, and even Splenda for the wife. After that, I will start on the canned goods, toilet paper, paper towels, et cetera. She looks at my reloading and dehydrating as a small hobby that keeps me happy. If I step where she considers “out-of-bounds”, the ostracism starts. Yes, I have given in at past times and was pretty wimpy about it. I do love and care for my wife and family, so leaving her is not an option or even a realistic thought.

What about my local friends for encouragement you ask? Again, they think I wear tin foil hats at home, or that I am certifiably insane. I quit bringing the subjects up, because I got tired of being laughed at. I only know of one other like-minded person, and he is planning on moving to the Redoubt in the near future. I do have other like-minded close friends, but they live several states away. I have a standing agreement with them if I ever show up, but that is not a reality for me in a SHTF scenario. I will have to bug-in.

I can’t grow things, can things, or be able to do much of anything with my hands, but I am trying to learn. I know my specialty is thinking far outside the box and security of just about any given area. I can become an aggressor in my mind and look for the open holes that most don’t think of. In another life (if I believed in that sort of thing), I was probably an anarchist. I can think logically and maintain some level of composure when others are going crazy. I have been called “flat-lined” and “unflappable,” and I consider those terms compliments.

Why am I writing this? I’m writing to let other sad and silent preppers, like me, know there are others out there, to try and give hope and encouragement to those feeling totally alone. Please do not quit or give up hope, as there are more of us out here than you could possibly imagine. Reading stories of families that live the lifestyle I can only dream of does encourage me, but I haven’t really read about my group.

“I will never give up, and I will never surrender”(1), and I will “rage against the dying of the light” (2) as I see the storms approaching. My solace is upon a Holy God that promised never to leave nor forsake me. (Matthew 28:20) I know it will be tough to survive long term. I am within a one hour radius of Atlanta and have several large cities between us. If God decides my time is over, may I die in a pile of brass.

(1) “Never Give In Speech”, 1941 Prime Minister Winston Churchill

(2) “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, 1954, Dylan Thomas

News From The American Redoubt:

Montana AG strikes Missoula’s expanded background check ordinance

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I noticed that Tactical Innovations (in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho) has expanded their product line, particularly suppressors. Hopefully, the Hearing Protection Act will pass and you’ll be able to mail order them like any other unrestricted gun part soon. (Call your congressman!)

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Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines has taken over as chairman of the Senate Western Caucus.

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Wyoming News: Gun bills win House approval; go to Senate

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Idaho governor says Christian refugees deserve priority

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It is noteworthy that Montana Rarities (in Missoula, Montana) now has both U.S. Mint and Canadian Mint 2017 mint date 1-ounce silver bullion coins available. This is a highly recommended company. It is noteworthy that they have Monthly Precious Metals Purchase Plans available, to provide Dollar Cost Averaging advantages.

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The folks at Liquid Transformations (in Spokane, Washington) recently did some Cerakote finishes on several firearms for one of my consulting clients. He remarked that he was very impressed with the quality of their work and their customer service. Good folks!

Economics and Investing:

How A Massive Solar Storm Could Wreck The Global Economy – G.G.

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It’s Time To Start Worrying About China Again

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Debt Apocalypse Beckons As U.S. Consumer Bankruptcies Do Something They Haven’t Done In Almost 7 Years

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Gold Investing: Is Your Opportunity Slipping Away?

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Silver Market Set Up For Much Higher Price Move Than Gold

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Notes for Monday – February 06, 2017

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th, 1911. He was an American politician and actor, who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, following a career as an actor and union leader in Hollywood. Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed “Reaganomics”, advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth, control of the money supply to curb inflation, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, escalated the War on Drugs, and fought public-sector labor.

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Are you kicking yourself for missing your chance at purchasing one of the limited edition SurvivalBlog 2005-2016 USB Archives? Coincidentally, I am also running short of recipes for the Recipe of the Week column. I have squirreled away a handful of these fantastic USB sticks and am willing to part with them in exchange for some awesome recipes. If you send me an original recipe that I accept for publishing, I will send you one of these USB drives. To be eligible, the recipe must:

  • be original to you and you must own the copyright to it,
  • not be published anywhere else in print or on the web,
  • be made with ingredients that can be stored, raised, or grown after TEOTWAWKI.

Send your submission in with the subject line “Recipe of the Week” and include a physical USPS mailing address in the body of the email. All physical addresses must be located in the contiguous 48 states. Only submissions that are accepted for publishing will receive the USB, and it is a first come, first served offer. Don’t delay! – HJL

CRKT Beauty and The Beast, by Pat Cascio

I still remember when I was a mere lad, seeing Beauty and the Beast on television. It was, of course, a stage production. Still, I was pretty scared of “The Beast” in that production. Years later, we had a TV series with Linda Hamilton as “Beauty” and Ron Perlman as “The Beast”, and things weren’t so scary for me with that “Beast”. I must admit it; I watched the show for “Beauty” and not “The Beast”. It was a modern day version of the old fairy tale. There was another similar show on TV, but it didn’t last very long for some reason.

There are many things in life that we often compare to one another– big or small, tall or short, fat or skinny, or a real beauty and a real beast. To be sure, when doing a comparison of beauty and the beast, it may all be in the eye of the beholder. No two people see the same thing when actually looking at the same thing.

Back when I was a police officer and also doing private investigations work, I interviewed witnesses to a crime; no two people actually saw the same thing, even though they were looking at the same thing. I remember many years ago doing PI work, with much of it for criminal defense lawyers who were, of course, attempting to provide the best defense possible for their client. One such investigation I was doing, involved a murder case. There were ten eye witnesses to the murder. When I was done interviewing all of the witnesses, there wasn’t one who had actually seen the murder. However, the police reports said other wise. The lawyer’s client got off, even though I was sure he was guilty of the crime. I quit working for that PI firm shortly after that. I couldn’t do that sort of work any longer, knowing that the person was really guilty and through my honest efforts they got turned loose.

So, with the above in mind, this is my idea of two different knives from Columbia River Knife & Tool. I see one knife as a real “beauty” and one as a “beast”. Feel free to disagree with my assessment. First up is a real beauty from the mind of custom knife maker Brian Tigh. He is quite an artist. I don’t know if Brian even considers himself a knife maker; it might just be his venue for releasing the beautiful designs he has in his head, and he can best do this through steel, in the form of knives.

Beauty

The Tigh Tac Two that Brian Tigh designed is a very attractive every day carry folding knife, with a flipper for fast opening of the blade and a button lock to keep the blade open. The model I received for testing has the Tanto-style blade, which is one of my favorites; however, the Tight Tac Two can be had in other blade shapes. Check out the website. This Tanto blade isn’t just any plain blade. No, it wouldn’t be a Brian Tigh design without some flair to it. Check out the pictures of it.

The Tigh Tact Two has a 3.324-inch long blade made out of 8Cr13Mov. I don’t know exactly what it is, other than it is a stainless steel blade with a nice satin finish on it. It’s very attractive. The handle is black glass reinforced nylon that is sculpted nicely and attractive. It’s a real Gent’s folder if you ask me. The knife only weighs 3.4 oz, so it is a light-weight but tough one. There is a pocket/clothing clip, but alas it only has one position for carry– in the right pants pocket, tip up.

The Beast

Next up from CKRT is the Buku folding knife, and this hummer is strong, very strong. The blade reminds me of the Kukri styl of fixed blade knife made famous by the Ghurkas– very tough military troops. The Buku is designed by custom knife maker Lucas Burnley from New Mexico, and he really did his homework on this design. To be fair, the knife really isn’t “ugly” in any sense. It’s just a brute of an every day folder, so that when you pull it out of your pocket people will go “wow” as soon as they see it. It actually looks much bigger than it is. Still, to my mind it is a “beast” of a folder!

The Buku has a 3.75-inch long blade made out of the same stainless steel as many of the CRKT folders– 8Cr13Mov. Again, not sure what it is, but it is tough, holds an edge a good long time, and is easy to re-sharpen. The handle is made out of 2Cr13 stainless steel, and both the blade and handle have a satin finish on them. The Buku weighs in at 7.7 ounces, so it is a beast in the weight department, but it’s not too heavy or too light for every day carry.

There is a frame lock to keep the blade locked open tight, and it is a beefy locking mechanism, too. The pocket/clothing clip allows deep pocket carry. Still, it is easy to draw the knife out of your pocket for use. The clip is only on one side. You can’t move it to a different position, and it allows for tip-up carry in your right front pocket. However, with practice, you can still carry and draw the knife from a left front pocket as well. The blade is opened using the thumb hole on the blade, which is pretty much oval in shape. The blade is easy enough to open with either hand. The blade is flat ground for a lot of strength, too.

So, that’s a quick look at two different folding knives meant for every day carry, but they are quite a bit different in many ways. I’m sure some readers will certainly disagree with my assessment on calling one knife a beauty and one a beast, but that’s the way I see them. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with either definition of these folders.

As to testing both blades, well they were both carried for two weeks in my right front pocket, and, no, not at the same time. Even the heavier “Beast” wasn’t noticeable in my pocket with the heavier weight compared to “Beauty.” I used both knives for all manner of cutting chores in the kitchen, from veggies to meat and everything in between. Regular readers will know that one of my tests is cutting down blackberry vines; they are super tough. If a knife won’t cut one of these vines completely in half with a single swipe, then the blade isn’t sharp enough for me. I had no problem with either the Beauty or the Beast; however, I was surprised, with the shorter blade on Beauty that it actually completely sliced through the blackberry vines. It did. The Beast had no problems at all; the Kukri-style blade just grabbed and sliced right through those vines.

Of course, as is my practice, I show knife samples around to folks at the local gun shop I haunt, and everyone loved both styles of folders. To be sure, several people, even some customers, commented on the “Beast”, saying it was, well, “a beast of a folder”. And, the Beauty everyone thought was very classy looking, and it is. When you pull out “Beauty”, everyone will think it is a custom, hand-made folder. It is just beautiful, no pun intended. On the other hand, when you pull out the “Beast” to cut through some heavy duty material, people will more than likely comment on what a “beast” of a folder you have there. No, I’m not kidding. It looks wicked!

Full retail on “Beauty” is only $59.99, and on the “Beast” it is only $69.99. If you shop around on the ‘net, you can find most CRKT products deeply discounted. These are great every day carry folders, and I’d be hard pressed to pick one over the other. Then again, choice is nice. I can carry one on one day and the other knife on another day. What’s not to like here?

Recipe of the Week: Arroz Con Pollo, by G.L.

Ingredients:

  • 1 frying chicken, cut up
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 pinch of saffron powder
  • 3 cups broth or bouillon
  • 2 Tbsp dry sherry
  • 1 (16 oz) can peas, drained
  • 1/2 cup sliced, stuffed green olives
  • 2 cups cooked rice

Directions:

  1. In a slow-cooking pot, combine chicken with salt, pepper, garlic, and saffron.
  2. Pour chicken broth and sherry over chicken.
  3. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
  4. Drain the chicken, saving 2 cups of broth.
  5. Turn the control to high and combine the chicken, 2 cups of broth, peas, olives, and cooked rice.
  6. Cover and cook on high another 20 to 30 minutes, or until hot.

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Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

4 Creative Ways to Sweeten the Deal This Valentine’s Day

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Letter Re: Intellectual Survival

HJL,

This is a great article and a tremendous gap in most survival discussions!

We prepare not to just survive but to thrive in the aftermath of a disaster, and I assume we all have or are trying to have children.

Imagine how dark the world will become if we let the light of western civilization sputter and die on our watch. If we are to make a difference, if we are to keep our values and our philosophy alive, we need books.

My parents invested in a complete collection of the Harvard Classics. One summer, recovering from a football related injury, I read the complete collection. This was 35 years ago.

While I knew what values my parents lived day to day, I didn’t KNOW these values. To put it in other words, I had an intellectual conversion on par with what a man experiences when he comes to Christ and knows Him for the first time after merely reading the Bible for years.

Now there are times when I wish I were still ignorant. But knowing the philosophies of Hobbes, Hume, Locke, et. al. I understood what the founding fathers were trying to accomplish and how far from that ideal we’ve fallen. Knowing how the early Republic actually worked and the vast differences between European and American societies (even today, though on the surface their forms seem the same) by reading de Tocqueville, was an eye opening experience. It led me to volunteer my time in the Boy Scouts (pre fall from grace days, before homosexuality was openly accepted by ignoring the “morally straight” part of the Scout Oath), and a decade of being a part-time deputy in a county where the sheriff was a constitutionally-minded Christian gentleman.

The harder the values are to follow, the more important it is to understand the religious, philosophical, and ethical foundations for them. And the only way to pass these on to our children is through the use of our library. Thus, the critical importance of our collection of books. – Dr H.

Economics and Investing:

The “TRIAL nation” for cashless commerce: Penalty of equal amount for receiving cash over Rs 3 lakh: Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia – D.S.

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Info Wars: How The Cashless Society Will Track You Everywhere – DSV

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Sanctuary Cities Received $27 Billion From Feds Each Year – H.L.

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Chasing Golden Dreams

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Anyone with an interest in night vision gear or intrusion detection systems should check out this amazing surplus company in southern California: Murphy’s Surplus.

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Treacherous rioting? Prosecute the Rioters – H.L.

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Stupid Light: Why lighter is not always right or better – G.P.

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Solar Power – is it for you? The state of residential solar power – P.S.

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Over at our SurvivalRealty.com spin-off site, there is a fascinating new listing on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island that features an off-grid cabin near Naukati Bay for access by boat or seaplane.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

’“We should always make a distinction that ‘right and wrong’ is a very different standard than ‘legal and illegal.’ The law is no substitute for morality.” – Edward Snowden, in a recent interview.

Notes for Sunday – February 05, 2017

On February 5th, 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announced his plan to expand the Supreme Court to as many as 15 Judges. This unconstitutional move was in response to the hostility that the court held towards his “New Deal”, itself an unconstitutional expansion of government authority. Roosevelt was flushed with his landslide victory in 1936, so Roosevelt pressed his advantage. In April of that year, two justices conceded the high moral ground and capitulated to his demands allowing for a narrow victory on the New Deal. The reorganization was now unnecessary and in July the Senate struck it down, but the damage was already done. By 1942, all but two of the justices were Roosevelt’s appointees setting the stage for the collapse of the checks and balances in the government along with the morally disastrous progressive rulings that have followed.