Odds ‘n Sods:

Obama Regime Stiff-Arms Lawmakers Questioning Secret Refugee Deal – D.S.

o o o

The Burning Platform: Time to Say Goodbye… – No, they are not closing their doors. – B.B.

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Sweeping Legislative Attack On Gun Clubs, Ranges & Everyone Who Uses Them Threatens A Wide Swath – G.W.

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Land of the Free, Home of the 33,000 Violent Street Gangs – B.B.

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Liberal tells Megyn Kelly that the cop who shot the Ohio State attacker ‘rushed to judgment’ – This is what we are up against. – P.M.



Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” – Genesis 26:2-5 (KJV)



Notes for Friday – December 02, 2016

On December 2nd, 1823, what became known as the Monroe Doctrine was declared by President James Monroe to Congress outlining a foreign policy initiative that forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts.



Letter Re: Doulton Water Filter

I have made a very similar PVC tube filter as in the article. It holds 1/2 gallon at a time. I have an RV filter on the faucet to pre-filter the water. A lot of homemade water filters like this have it sit on top of a 5 gallon food-safe bucket with a spigot towards the bottom. I prefer the one gallon glass jar. – R.V.

waterfilter



Economics and Investing:

As Auto Lending Rises, So Do Delinquencies – J.S.

o o o

Silver Prices and Interest Rates

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After a War on Cash, can the War on Gold be far behind? – DSV

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GAO Assails Department Of Education’s Cost Estimates Of Income-Driven Student Loans, Projects 39% ($137 Billion) Of 1995-2017 Loans Will Not Be Repaid – CLP

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OMV reverses earlier announcement, will accept cash for most transactions – D.R.

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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:

Ohio State Official DEFENDS Terrorist… FB Post Will Make You Physically Ill – W.C.

o o o

Starting Today, Feds Can Hack Millions Of Devices With One Warrant – H.K.

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An article found in Emergency Management magazine– a publication mainly for city/county/state/federal emergency managers: Prepper Movement, While Not Mainstream, no Longer Just for Doomsday Outliers – T.H.

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Video: Springfield Armory M1A Socom 16 meets the X-Products 50 round .308 drum! – W.C.

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Italy: The Next Stop on Populism’s Global March







Round 67 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

First prize goes to L.M. for “Purchasing Power: Past, Present, Future- Part 1”, “Part2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, and “Part 5” which was posted on November 8th through November 12th, 2016. The following prizes were awarded:

  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 $1,700 value),
  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 goes to Z.M. for “How To Find Food in Your Own Backyard” which was posted on October 4th, 2016. The following prizes were awarded:

  1. 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,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 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 goes to A. Smith for “A Life Submerged: The Gray Man Existence” which was posted on October 16th, 2016. The following prizes were awarded:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. 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,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a $125 Montie gear Gift certificate.,
  8. 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
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Honorable mention prizes ($30 Amazon.com gift certificates via e-mail) have been awarded to the writers of these fine articles:



November in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers.

What Did Gold Do in November? Gold was riding high to start the month, but after Donald Trump’s thrashing of Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election, investors bailed from safe havens like gold and bonds to join the party in stocks. By November 3rd, gold was trading above $1,300 an ounce.

Factors Affecting Gold This Month

There was one overriding factor affecting every single market in November:

TRUMP

Everyone knows about all the politics involved in November’s Presidential election, so we will skip right to the economic news. The Friday before the election saw gold rack up its fourth weekly gain in a row, while stocks hit their longest losing streak in 36 years.

The safe haven demand for gold by investors afraid of a Trump win totally disappeared the day before the election, as the FBI closed their probe into Clinton’s email server. Spot gold closed $22.80 lower at $1,281.20– the largest one-day drop in five weeks.

That FBI probe may have helped Trump, though when it was all said and done, he really didn’t need any extra help. The night of the election, as more states went to Trump, the markets panicked. Stocks crashed, and gold shot up $60 higher to hit a 3-year high of $1,338 an ounce. But as the night continued and more states voted for Trump, the markets reversed themselves. Trump’s landslide victory meant that there would be no questioning the election results, and the markets want certainty above all else.

Trump’s promise of tax breaks, reversing Dodd-Frank regulations on banks, and a huge spending program to replace the nation’s crumbling infrastructure gave stocks plenty to cheer about. Stocks hit back to back all-time highs, as everyone wanted in on the party.

These plans caused inflation forecasts to shoot higher, and investors bailed out of the low-yield bonds that they were holding. This caused the biggest bond crash in years. Inflation expectations also sent the U.S. dollar shooting skyward to its highest point since March 2003.

The irrational exuberance in the stock market and stronger dollar gave a one-two punch to gold, driving prices below $1,200 an ounce at one point. This led to some profit taking by speculators, which helped gold build a floor at that level.

Stocks may be in for a rude awakening. Trump’s tax breaks and huge deficit spending plans will certainly be opposed by Tea Party Republicans in Congress. The fight will be even sharper when debt ceiling negotiations are added to the mix. Congress suspended the debt ceiling in late 2015, because they thought it would hurt their reelection changes. That debt limit will become active again on March 16, 2017, and the U.S. government will already be above it.

Speaking of Tea Party Republicans, they are going to need support from the public to help “drain the swamp”. Some Republican lawmakers met behind closed doors after the election to make secret plans to bring back “earmarks” in Congressional spending measures. Otherwise known as “porkbarrel politics”, the measure was squashed by Speaker Paul Ryan, but he will face a strong push, when Congress meets again, from those Representatives that want their pork for their districts.

On the Retail Front

American Silver Eagle sales recovered somewhat in November, at just over three million coins. However, much lower sales seen over the summer has meant that any chance of yet another record year has vanished. Year to date Silver Eagle sales were just over 37.4 million by the end of November. U.S. Gold Eagles and Gold Buffaloes saw 145,000 troy ounces in sales for the month, bringing the year-to-date total to 1.13 million ounces.

North of the border, The Royal Canadian Mint released their sales numbers for the second quarter. In the 13 weeks ending July 2, gold coin sales were 53% higher from the same time last year, at 251,400 ounces. Silver bullion coin sales were 24% higher, at 8.4 million ounces.

You might remember Bernard Von Nothaus from his unsuccessful fight with the government over his Liberty Dollar silver rounds. This time it’s Wells Fargo Bank giving him grief. Nothaus began making silver and gold Trump Dollars shortly after the real estate mogul began his run for the White House. Demand was so great that Wells Fargo suspended his account due to the number of orders he was taking, bringing his work to a halt

Market Buzz

While the Trump Administration axing Dodd-Frank is a given no matter who becomes Treasury Secretary, one prominent name on that list is John Allison. The former CEO of BB&T Bank and a writer at the Cato Institute, Allison is a fierce proponent of deregulation and the free market, and he is also known for his desire to end the Fed. If that doesn’t make him sound “sound money” enough for you, he’s also been quoted as saying we should probably return to the Gold Standard.

Allison isn’t a lone voice in the matter, as Dr. Judy Shelton– an economist who advocates sound money policy– is on Trump’s Economic Advisory Team. Dr. Shelton used her work in studying the Soviet banking system in the 1990s to predict that the USSR would collapse, two years before it did so. Among other things, she champions an idea that was earlier put forth by Alan Greenspan: issuing gold-convertible bonds as a way to reintroduce gold into the international financial system.

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has emerged as an unlikely ally in Trump’s efforts to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, which regulates banks in an effort to prevent another Too Big To Fail banking crisis. All is not rosy for banks under Greenspan’s plans, however. He wants to hike the capital requirements for banks to as high as 30%. In the same talk, he forecasts that long-term interest rates as high as 5% were on the way.

John Mauldin warns that you should probably buy some gold as insurance against these five risks that face a Trump Administration.

Will Trump take the fall for an impending recession that started before he took office? Jeff Thomas at International Man thinks so, as he recounts how the Democrats used the press to turn President Herbert Hoover into Public Enemy #1, way back in 1929.

Some Wall St analysts are worried that the massive infrastructure program that Trump has promised could be too much of a good thing and overheat the economy. With the stock market taking off before Trump even moves in at the White House, concerns that the Fed may already be behind the curve on inflation are growing.

Is gambling with derivatives by the Too Big To Fail banks going to blow up again and take the world economy with it? After reading this and looking at these charts, you’ll probably want to minimize your exposure to the global banking system even more. With the higher inflation that will result from Trump’s infrastructure program and the expulsion of illegal aliens, $300 trillion of derivatives that the Big Banks hold will suddenly have to be honored. The American public will not stand for another Wall St bailout, which means stockholders, bondholders, and depositors of a failed bank will end up getting “bailed in” and their money used to save the bank.

Jim Rickards warns that the next global financial crisis will be far worse than 2008. He notes, “The next crisis will be the third since 1998. In 1998, Wall Street bailed out a hedge fund. In 2008, central banks were forced to bail out Wall Street. In 2018, if not sooner, who’s going to bail out the central banks?”

The IMF, Rickards says, who will force the world’s central banks to accept the IMF Special Drawing Rights as the new world currency, while the G20 group of nations becomes the de facto world government.

Depending on the triggering event of societal upheaval, you may decide to take bugging out to the extreme by relocating to a different country. Your options will be limited, unless you have a passport issued by a second country. Nick Giambruno at International Man explains the easiest ways to gain dual citizenship and have that second passport ready if you need it.

More proof that banks don’t take safeguarding your accounts: Hackers stole money out of 20,000 bank accounts at Tesco Bank in Britain. Tesco refuses to say how much money was stolen, but several posts to social media tell of $500 and more missing from individual accounts.

Looking Ahead

Europe has a very good chance of catching fire starting in December, thanks to populist movements that have gained support after Donald Trump’s victory. Two important votes will occur on December 4th.

First, a referendum in Italy to amend the Constitution to reduce gridlock looks to be headed for defeat. If it fails, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised to resign. The populist and euroskeptic Five-Star Movement is the odds-on favorite to win control of the government, much like the Republicans captured both houses of Congress and the White House. Five-Star could pull Italy out of the euro common currency or even follow Britain out of the EU completely. As an example of how crazy this election is, the “establishment” party wants to shake up the do-nothing Parliament, while the “anti-establishment” parties are fighting for all those extra Senators to keep their jobs.

Also on December 4th, Presidential elections in Austria will pit Norbert Hofer, leader of the far right Freedom Party, against a coalition of establishment parties backing economist Alexander Van Der Bellen. Hofer promises to enact immigration restrictions even stronger than those proposed by Trump during the U.S. Presidential campaign in order to deal with the hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees that have flooded Austria.

In a case that kind of proves Hofr’s point, Norway was forced to release a radical Islamist cleric when Italy suddenly withdrew its extradition request. Mullah Krekar has been repeatedly arrested for making death threats and urging other radical Muslims to commit criminal acts.

On the other hand, the “Merkel Red Carpet” for immigrants in Germany has been rolled up, as real Syrian refugees complain that the mosques in Germany are more extremist than the ones back in Syria. German police simultaneously raided 190 mosques, homes, and offices on November 15th, looking for militants belonging to the “True Religion” extremist organization. At the same time, the German government outlawed the group for recruiting for ISIS.



Letter Re: Dakota Access Pipeline

As a resident of North Dakota and having to hear about this every day, the facts are:

  1. The pipeline is in a corridor with another older line that goes under the water (90 feet below the riverbed);
  2. The water intake for the reservation is a moot point. The old intake at Ft. Yates will be replaced on 1/1/17 with an intake another 70 miles away from the crossing;
  3. The Standing Rock tribe was asked for input on the pipeline at least six times, and they never bothered to show up;
  4. During the design of the line, it was rerouted in over 100 places to void water concerns;
  5. Over 80% of the arrests are non-Native American and not from North Dakota; and
  6. The entire route of the pipeline was walked by environmental and archaeological personnel and checked for problem areas.

Those are the main facts. Now for my opinions:

Warren Buffet owns Burlington Northern RR that carries the majority of the oil from the Bakken. He is a great buddy with Obama, ergo no pipeline (Dakota Access or Keystone).

Standing Rock is upset because they will not receive any money for it running through their lands; not one foot of the pipeline is on reservation land.

I hope this helps clear some thing up – R.B.





Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader GJM wrote in about this video review of the Black Aces Firearm: “…this smaller-sized but strong and utilitarian little pup– small enough to be snuggled in one arm; big enough to growl convincingly…so joyously ready to go and so eager to protect and to please…”

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Huge solar storm which could WIPE OUT modern technology expected by 2020

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I had an abortion at Planned Parenthood — and I’m not ashamed. This statement pretty much sums up the world view of the Progressive Left, “I didn’t have an abortion because I was raped, or because my life was in danger, or because the fetus was the product of incest. I had an abortion because I had recreational sex, got unintentionally pregnant, and wasn’t ready or willing to be a mother.” (Translation: “It’s not my fault that I am a self-indulgent egotistical lazy ignorant immoral slob.”) – P.M.

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From Reader DMS regarding the severe fires in the news: “My our prayers go out to the tornado and wildfire victims. Please send what support and assistance you can to these families! This is also a good example here for those who prepare. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket but in multiple baskets over a good distance. It would be devastating to lose all your weapons and preps over one fire or tornado. Multiple caches is a MUST! Again, help these current victims as much as you can. As JWR says, “Give ’til it hurts.”

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Americans Bought Enough Guns on Black Friday to Arm the Marine Corps “According to the FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer, Black Friday shattered the single-day record for gun sales– with 185,713 background checks processed in a 24 hour period. Fischer told Business Insider that nearly 400 more transactions were processed on Black Friday than in 2015.”





Notes for Wednesday – November 30, 2016

Please pray for the families in Gatlinburg and the other areas in the path of the current wildfires.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 67 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First 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 $1,700 value),
  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 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,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 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 Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. 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,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a $125 Montie gear Gift certificate.,
  8. 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
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Round 67 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry for Round 68. 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.