The Battle of Lepanto (on 7 October 1571) was a naval engagement wherein a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic maritime states arranged by Pope Pius V and led by Spanish admiral Don Juan of Austria, decisively defeated the fleet of the Ottoman Empire on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece.
October 7th is also the day that we remember the 96 American POWs from Wake Island that were executed in 1943 on the orders of the commander of the Japanese garrison on the island, Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara. The execution of those American POWs who were blindfolded and shot in cold blood, remains one of the more brutal episodes of the war in the Pacific.
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest
Today we present another entry for Round 91 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
- A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
- A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
- 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,
- DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels 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. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
- Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Resources (a $350 value),
- A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
Second Prize:
- A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
- A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
- A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
- 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).
- An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
- Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
- A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
- Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit. This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag. The value of this kit is $220.
- Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
- A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!
Round 91 ends on November 30th, 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.
The US Military Garrison (Mostly US Marines) on Wake Island surrendered in December of 1941. [The US Marines made the Japanese pay dearly for the conquest. Wikipedia has an accounting of the Wake Island Battle.] The executions of the American prisoners, left on the Island, occurred almost two years later, October 7, 1943.
The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 stopped the Muslim-Turks from invading further into Europe. [There were other Battles with Muslims over the years].
From Wikipedia: “Turks from the Central Asia settled in Anatolia [Modern Turkey] in the 11th century, through the conquests of the Seljuk Turks. The region then began to transform from a predominantly Greek Christian society into a Turkish Muslim one.”
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What’s the point?
Western Civilization was been influenced by Christianity, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us.” … Many other cultures have NOT been influenced by the idea of forgiveness. [Fortunately, Japan and the USA are actual allies today.]
Other cultures and people are still at odds, because of events in the past. … Osama bin Laden (a Muslim Arab of 9/11 infamy) referred to the USA as Crusaders. He was referring to the retaking of the Holy-Lands, way back many hundreds of years ago. … Some Jihadist still call the USA Crusaders, now days.
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Some people justify their hate and anger because of long ago events. Lots of people (Even other Americans next door) can hold grudges for events that occurred way in the past; even for things that occurred before you were even born. =
Something to remember when accumulating necessities and preparing for a tenuous future. … Most readers of SurvivalBlog understand this Rawlesian precept:
“It is better to have a gun and not need it, than need a gun, and not have it.”
Great comment. Some say the Battle of Lepanto saved Europe from being conquered by the Mohammedans. Another important point is the fact that prayer, on behalf of the Christians, seems to have played a big role in the victory. Something to keep in mind today.
Fed Announces It Will Quit Printing Paper Money
David Knight show:
https://vk.com/wall511668592_15597
Sometimes what people desire conflicts with reality. (Especially, the Big Planners trying to manipulate a free people in a free country.)
It will be very difficult for the Organization of Privately Owned Banks known as the Federal Reserve to stop printing US Paper Money.
[The US Federal Employees actually do the printing for the US Treasury Department.] … The Private Banks known as the Federal Reserve determine the amount of cash needed to place in circulation. The Fed makes a request to the US Treasuring money printing facilities.
The Fed controls the money supply. The USA has ‘private bank’ dollars; NOT sovereign dollars. Ron Paul and others talk about our ‘USA’ dollars and the Fed.
NOT to quibble with InfoWars, but doing away with cash money in the USA will start ~WW3; the entire World against the USA. … [People overseas will NOT accept American IOUs or plastic credit cards.]
From the BullionStar site. ~How Much U.S. Currency is Held Overseas?~ 3 Jul 2019.
……… “What is the U.S.’s greatest export? Banknotes. There is probably no other product for which the balance of trade is so tilted in the U.S.’s favour. No foreign bills circulate in the U.S., but U.S. bills are eagerly used all over the world.
According to the Federal Reserve, there are currently $1.74 trillion paper dollars in circulation. How many of these notes circulate in the U.S. and how many are used overseas?
Because banknotes cannot be tracked, this question is particularly difficult to answer. This blog post explores several approaches for determining the location of notes. These approaches offer a wide range of estimates, from as low as 40% of all currency being held outside of U.S. borders to as high as 72%.
The international demand for dollars
There are a number of reasons why foreigners demand U.S. dollars. A few nations including Panama, Ecuador, and El Salvador are dollarized. They no longer have their own currency but are wholly dependent on U.S. dollar for trade. There is an even longer list of countries that are partially-dollarized. While Argentina, Angola, Cambodia, Nicaragua, and Russia each maintain local currencies, it is common for U.S. dollars to be used in a portion of their domestic transactions.
Nations tend to dollarize because they have experienced high domestic inflation. Because the purchasing power of dollars is much more reliable than that of a weak domestic currency, individuals and businesses develop a habit of using dollars for making transactions or hoarding wealth. Even years after the domestic inflation has been contained, this habit remains.
Dollars are also popular in the international drug trade. Criminals require secrecy, and by their nature banknotes are a privacy-preserving form of payment. Because U.S. dollars are so liquid, they have become the preferred medium for illicit international business dealings.
How do notes move overseas?
One of the main channels for banknote exports is via the official banking sector. Banks put in large orders for notes with the Federal Reserve and ship them to branch offices overseas or other foreign banks. … (The rest of the story at the site)
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The US Military is the best in the world, but, even the USA can’t fight everyone else in the world at the same time.
Ordinary people in foreign countries actually hold US Dollars, like preppers might ~wisely hold real silver coins.
There are about 7.5 billion people in the world. [Quite few people will start shooting at all Americans, if the Federal Reserve starts eliminating cash money.] The President will have call the US Military back home. … No American could travel overseas. Foreign countries will also start shooting down American Space Satellites.
If InfoWars is right about our ‘cash money’ ~ it’s time to hold onto your hat and run to the store for all the preps you can buy with your money. WW3 just be in the works.
I can´t even remember once seen the Dollar used in europe as tender and i never ´d problems changing Euros but i´d problems changing american express traveller cheques in England
ThoDan, you need to contact the site BullionStar(dot)com with your information about your experience in Europe. … BullionStar was my source of information. [BullionStar didn’t specifically mention Europe, in the portion I copied.]
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American Dollars might be considered Trump money in Europe. Of course, many Europeans are happy the USA is spending US Dollars to protect the NATO alliance countries.
From the news, it seems many European Countries were NOT fulfilling their NATO obligations by spending a sufficient amount of their OWN money.
……. The freeloaders in Europe were confronted by a Sharp New York City, Businessman; ~not the usual crooked American Politician.
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+BullionStar might be happy to receive your e-mail address, so they can send information about buying Gold and/or Silver.
That was years before THE Donald was a thing, ypu should get aware that Trump is an american problem you much overblow his importance on an international scale.
Of course americans demean the sacrifice european NATO soldiers make in fulfilling their allegiance to their ally including the supreme sacrifice.
ThoDan, I didn’t demean the European NATO soldiers. It’s a falsehood to speak for the dead, as though I was demeaning their sacrifice.
Even the dead enemy soldiers that served ~honorably should not be demeaned. [The USA doesn’t drag dead bodies through the streets for show.]
Decisions are made by politicians. The political leaders of many European Countries have decided to freeload on the American Taxpayers.
+Actually, it’s the American Military making the sacrifices to protect the Interests of the European countries.
The Europeans are NOT sacrificing for our sake, as much as the USA is making the sacrifice in both wounded and dead military personnel, plus a stream of constant money for the sake of Europe.
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Trump has confronted many European Leaders, with the news, “They have to meet their NATO Treaty obligations.”
CNBC has an article with charts, that illustrates the financial relationship NATO countries have with the NATO Alliance.
~Three charts that show why Trump thinks NATO is a bad deal~ Dec 3, 2019 =
“Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. provides too much cash for NATO, spending big on maintaining missile defense systems across Europe and positioning 65,000 troops within the continent. On Tuesday, Trump issued another broadside, this time accusing Germany of not paying its fair share on defense.”
A withdrawal of the U.S. from NATO would effectively destroy it with one stroke, and while nothing official has ever been said, several reports suggest Trump has considered ending U.S. involvement.
NATO itself estimates that as a percentage of GDP, the U.S. will far outstrip the spending of any other member country in 2019.
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[The US has spent more money for military defense, than all the other NATO countries combined. It’s in the charts] The NATO Treaty requires a certain level of spending by each country.
There’s NOT much chance of Russian Tanks rolling across the USA. Societal stability in the Middle East will NOT affect USA oil prices like it would in Europe.
Under Trump, the USA has become a NET oil exporting country. Trump put USA oil production in high gear, with the changes to the laws and regulations.
The USA has the best kick-ass military in the world. God Bless America.
That the Lord may preserve the members of our Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force from all harm; we pray to the Lord:
That even in war, we may keep clearly before us the defense of all human rights, especially the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; we pray to the Lord:
That the nations of the world will seek to work together in harmony and peace; we pray to the Lord:
That the hearts of all men and women will be moved to pursue true peace and justice; we pray to the Lord:
That grateful for and inspired by those veterans who have given their lives for our country we may bravely face the challenges ahead; we pray to the Lord:
THROUGH THE DARKNESS BRING US TO THE LIGHT.
No they buried them in filth and boast about it
I fail to see how loading us with fugitives from your war is doing us any favour?
Could you tell me of what stream of money you´re speaking?
Remember the USA uses their bases in germany, supported by the german tax payer, for their own NON NATO mission and war
. And seriously except honour and loyalty we´ve no reason to fight in Afghanistan or else and there would no need to fight ISIS because without the war in Irak and the ineptitude of doing the war from your nation Isis would never be born.
The EU could take for Europe the Role of NATO in a heartbeat, now that the Brits leave.
The EU is a military Alliance pledged to defense of their members
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Show me please?
btw tell me how the last NATO tank games ended IIRC the US troop did 4rd and 4th out of five
There isn´t much chance of russian tanks rolling through EU Area either, at least not very deep or very long, the EU outnumbers the russian military in neary every area except tanks(including their museum pieces) and maybe atomic weapons, should we start build the en masse?
P.S.
Much of the expenses of the US defence budget is borne in europe by other govermental agencies.
Retirement, one of the largest parts of the US Budget AFAIK for example as well as the cost of US Bases
ThoDan
“The German government has paid more than $1 billion over the past ~~~~>decade to cover costs related to the stationing of U.S. troops in Germany, according to the finance ministry in Berlin.”
[Militarytimes July 6 (No Year on article) from the AP, ~Germany spent over $1B to cover costs linked to US troops~]
To do the math = 1 billion over a decade is 100 million a year. The USA is buying:
“The F-35A, the most common version of the aircraft, will each cost $82.4 million in 2020, $79.17 million in 2021 and $77.9 million in 2022, the Pentagon told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday.” [Reuters 10/29/2019]
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The Americans will be happy, that Germany is paying for ONE new Jet to be stationed in Germany to protect the NATO countries. … A US Jet is NOT a stand alone item. There’s a literal swarm of people that keep the US Jets in the air. Our planes are ready for combat because of everyone in the US Military.
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“A new poll finds Germans largely support US troop removal after Trump’s announcement — and want all US nuclear weapons to leave Germany as well” [BusinessInsider August 6, 2020.]
“Top Merkel aide warns ‘German-US relationship could be severely affected’ by Trump’s decision to withdraw 9,500 soldiers from key NATO ally” [DailyMail June 7, 2020]
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“Much of the expenses of the US defence budget is borne in europe by other govermental agencies.
Retirement, one of the largest parts of the US Budget AFAIK for example…” [A statement by ThoDan, that GGHD does NOT understand.]
A billion here is 1000 milliards.
A milliard equals an american billion if i´m correct, so i think it could be a little bit more that we pay in addition to our own military and btw. the area for your bases, rights of passage and security.
Germany serves as at least a major military hub for US military operations including NON NATO Operations, and that could mean also a major effort for german security forces for protection of US Bases in Germany(9/11 saw a very massive effort of german security forces to protect american bases and the families of american soldiers and it´s not that those were underworked before) and that would be Ministry of the Interior of the FRG or the states
With other words german security forces done many extra hours to protect the americans on german soil and these hours didn´t came out of the air.
The US defence budget includes costs that in europe is part of the budget of other departments, like your veteran´s social security is AFAIK part of your defence budget here it ´s part of the normal social security insurances or for career soldiers part of the normal social security and retirement´s fundings of the civil services like police and judges.
After some of the last Tantrums of Trump, we´ve enough and more than enough of him, our soldiers definitly included.
ThoDan,
I still don’t see any link explaining your AFAIK comment. The Definition I found was As Far As I Know. … Please explain, and give a source for who is paying for military retirements? What is the amount? What are you talking about?
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“No they buried them in filth and boast about it” ThoDan
Please explain this comment. Any activity that violates the US Military Code of Conduct results in some form of punishment.
Please give a source. If you have exclusive information, contact a newspaper. or Aljazeera. [They would trumpet the news far and wide. Especially if the action wasn’t punished.]
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Kudos for the Tank Games.
If I can speak for the combat veterans, the tank games would be like winning a ‘stickball’ game on the streets of New York City. ,,, Surviving combat for everyone including tankers is better than winning the World Series. … Combat is Life and Death; success means life.
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There are many articles on the Internet about the combat readiness of Germany’s Military and many other countries.
The European Nations are lacking in combat readiness. The information is readily available on the Internet from numerous sources.
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There’s an article by the Rand Corporation.
“Assessing the Conventional Force Imbalance in Europe
Implications for Countering Russian Local Superiority”
The article is worth a look for number crunchers. The aggregate military numbers have to applied at the right location to counter the Bear.
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Triumph of the Will was a German Idea about strength of character. Do Europeans still have faith to give up this life to make the world a better place?
It’s hard to self sacrifice, when a person thinks the purpose of life is to sit in a Bistro enjoying a bowl of Gelato.
Americans boasted to me that in the Philippines, the US Soldiers buried Philippine freedom fighters with pig entrails.
AFAIK = As Far as i know
You said american soldiers are the best in the world, but in a test of military skills they made last time i looked 4th place from 5 in the tank challenge and this is no sports event, this is a challenge of the military skills of a tank platoon and the US military held in three years at best a place in the middle .
Train hard fight easy.
Do you´ve any articles with less political agenda than the RAND corporation?
But yes, getting the troops through the GAP is a problem and the US military doesn´t change it, the US don´t´ve enough troops in europe to change anything on the ground significantly, first the US needed to get their troops to germany by sea and air and then germany needs to serve as a traffic hub for this case.
btw why do you think the building of modern roads and railways to the baltic states is such an massiv endeavour, a pure civilian endeavour.
In contrary to the US Europe never believed the pursuit of happiness = pursuit of wealth
Triumph of Will was very stupid Idea of an extreme stupid man, it means ignore the facts and try stupid things.
Remember how the eastern block came down, because eastern europeans brought it down, faced the tyranny.
Remember also Germany was never meant to be defended by NATO, it was the battlefield on which the german military and the other NATO troops should fight, bleed and fall for buying time, my people would´ve died by the millions on this battlefield sacrificed for the liberty of their alies
ThoDan,
The leftwinger Snopes Website repudiates your myth about ‘Philippine freedom fighters with pig entrails’ ~ It never happened. There are other Internet places that repudiates that myth too.
Apparently there was a Hollywood Movie using the myth; the 1939 film The Real Glory, with Gary Cooper.
[Snopes, General Pershing on How to Stop Islamic Terrorists. Snopes labels the myth = FALSE. The Snopes article is a good read]
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Germans sure did squeal like those pigs, when Donald Trump placed a Tariff on the German Cars shipped to the USA. [Maybe, the Germans are worried about their wealth and happiness.]
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About your comment, “Do you´ve any articles with less political agenda than the RAND corporation?” … I have to do the research on your questionable assertions?
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“Remember also Germany was never meant to be defended by NATO” = Many people would agree with you, ThoDan. … A lot of people think, the NATO troops in Germany are watching both the Bear in the East and the Eagle in >Germany.
Unfortunately, the Germans have had a habit of banding together in large Fraternal Organization, and then Marching around Europe. … The members of the Fraternal Organizations (Not thinking about the pursuit of wealth) often decide to borrow the art treasures and the wealth of other countries. They also cause a lot of havoc and death too.
Yes, the Germans can be a Rowdy Bunch! = Drinking good beer and eating bread, while marching along.
Nice try but that isn´t true and btw it was conservative americans who boasted it.
an no we didn´t squeal we criticed his betrayal but we do make a mistake we should react in kind to US products(which? ) and services.
Honestly german cars aren´t competitive in price, they sell on quality.
You should not confuse us with the french, but naturally the french would drink wine not beer but i must confess we´ve the same bad habits as other people
The cold blooded murder of the prisoners of war alone warranted the use of the first atomic bomb.
I have read Mr Rabbit, (can’t remember where – I read to much) that their reasoning is due to the virus and new money being susceptible to spreading it, while it’s OK to continue using old “clean” money. And that boys & girls, is how your gobbermint, in all its splendid efficiency and glory, works……
The great implosion is close at hand…… Far as I’m concerned, this present gummer-mint is about as illegitimate as any can possibly be, and it’s no stretch to figure out why…..
Covid-19 is the pretext for the rapid roll out of full scale tyranny. In Australia, some people are being restricted to areas no larger than 3km in circumference, tracked by their phone and arrested if they go outside the area without permission. Facial recognition will be required to enter first corporate owned stores. And digital currency will only be accepted. It is a reality blooming first in Australia, and Europe in different ways. An underground economy using old fashion cash may persist, but the cash will be removed by the banks. Mandatory vaccinations, contact tracers, and phone aps that track and control us are not far off into the distant future. It is being rolled out NOW!
I am in the middle of installing new stove pipe for winter. There is more they will be imposing in short order around the world, and in various stages. Even if Trump wins in a landslide, it will only slow the process, but it will not stop the process, until it is stopped by true red, white and blue Americans.
and i thought digital cash only was an american business model, i can´t use my debit car with my car dealer
Digital money only in europe; show me please
It is clearly an opinion of the direction we are headed. Being head of the GDP (the Generally Dumb Public) is why most of us ended up here. It may make one feel better to demand proof that does not exist, but it will not stop whatever will be inevitable. Current events have validated that it is better to a decade too early, as some of us were, than one day too late. Don’t be late! This trend is not your friend.
I liv in Europe for over 50 years, i´ve still to encounter one cards only business, many here don´t use credit cards at all
Three Avenues Of Approach: Baofeng’s BF-R3
Posted by NC Scout
Oct 7, 2020
https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/10/three-avenues-of-approach-baofengs-bf-r3/
I couldn’t believe it when I saw it:
Miltary Airsoft Z117 H-250 PTT Handset Handheld Microphone for Kenwood Baofeng
Phone set used by Soldiers, especially in Vietnam those AN/PRC25 AN/PRC77, but designed to plug in for modern radios.
Re: Lepanto, the Catholic forces gave credit for their victory to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, whom they had prayed to in the rosary prior to the battle. Hence, one of her titles is Our Lady of Lepanto, today being the memorial. Pray the rosary, it’s powerful!
FYI: Mr. Jim, your leading article says 96 men, but the article calls for 98 men. The 98 rock. Yes, I am that guy.
The Battle of King’s Mountain was also on this date in 1780.
I’ve been to the battlefield a few times. A small battle with strategic effects, it was fought almost entirely by Patriot and Loyalist militia. The only British Soldier present was MAJ Patrick Ferguson, who was killed during the battle. Ironically, his boasting and threats was what fired up the “Over the Mountain Men” to mobilize. If he’d kept his mouth shut, they would have probably stayed out of the fight altogether.
Gosh…that seems familiar, somehow…