The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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 JWR. Today we focus on a court ruling on smartphone privacy

The New SurvivalBlog Waterproof Archive USB Stick!

The greatly-expanded SurvivalBlog 2005-2018 Archive Waterproof USB stick is now available for ordering. Since there is so much more bonus material in this year’s edition, we had to switch to offering a 16 GB stick!  If sales made last year are any gauge, we can expect the limited production run of this year’s archive to sell out in just a couple of months. I’ve noticed that several folks have been ordering these in the past two days in quantities of 2, 3, or 4. Order yours today, before they sell out.

A Note on USB Stick Payments by Credit Card: PayPal is our credit card processor. To pay for your USB sticks via credit card, you have to select “PayPal” which has the credit card symbols by it, then select “Proceed to PayPal” button at the bottom of the checkout page. This will kick you over to PayPal’s site. There will be two buttons there. The dark blue button pays with a PayPal account. The grey button pays with a credit card without using a PayPal account.

By default, PayPal wants you to open an account, so make sure the “save information and create a PayPal account” option is NOT checked when you get to it.

The only other option we have for payment is to pay by “Check or Money Order”. You certainly can use that option, but it will delay shipment since we have to wait to receive the check and I only receive forwarded  mail about once every three weeks. So that could mean a mailing delay of up to one month!

Busted: Google Manipulated YouTube Search Results

The Breibart news service recently posted this: ‘THE SMOKING GUN’: Google Manipulated YouTube Search Results for Abortion, Maxine Waters, David Hogg.

Here are a couple of snippets from the article:

“In the case of the “abortion” search results, YouTube’s intervention to insert “authoritative” content resulted in the downranking of pro-life videos and the elevation of pro-abortion ones.”

And,

“A Google spokesperson took a tougher line than its YouTube subsidiary, stating that ‘Google has never manipulated or modified the search results or content in any of its products to promote a particular political ideology.’

However, in the leaked discussion thread, a member of Google’s ‘trust & safety’ team, Daniel Aaronson, admitted that the company maintains “huge teams” that work to adjust search results for subjects that are “prone to hyperbolic content, misleading information, and offensive content” – all subjective terms that are frequently used to suppress right-leaning sources.”

JWR’s Comment:  The standing joke about the national newspapers in old Soviet Union was: “There is no truth in Pravda, and there is no news in Izvestia.”  This joke will give a chuckle only to those who know that Pravda (Правда) is the Russian word for Truth and that Izvestia (Известия) is the Russian word for news.  I’ll update this for the present day: “There is neither trustworthiness nor safety in ‘Trust and Safety’ committees.” Meet the new Commissars. Sames as the old Commissars.

Thanks to reader DSV, for sending that link.

Feds Can’t Force You To Unlock Your iPhone With Finger Or Face

Reader C.H. sent this: Feds Can’t Force You To Unlock Your iPhone With Finger Or Face, Judge Rules. C.H. had this comment: “The judge’s ruling makes biometric passwords the equal of a regular password by equating the biometric with testimony under the 5A. However, it is probably not a good idea to use facial recognition or fingerprints with your smart phone.”

Feinstein’s Assault on Liberty

The text of Senator Feinstein’s proposed so-called “Assault Weapons” and magazine ban of 2019 (S.66) has been released. What a monstrosity! The huge list of “exempt” guns is clearly just for window dressing. Most of the guns on that list are single shot, bolt action, pump action, and lever guns. What huge waste of some staffer’s time to list any of them.

Beware the Emergency State

John W. Whitehead has the following, over at LewRockwell.com: Beware the Emergency State: Imperial, Unaccountable and Unconstitutional. Here is the opening paragraph:  ‘The civil unrest, the national emergencies’, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters,” the government’s reliance on the armed forces to solve domestic political and social problems, the implicit declaration of martial law packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security… The government has been planning and preparing for such a crisis for years now. No matter that this crisis is of the government’s own making. To those for whom power and profit are everything, the end always justifies the means.”

Becoming The Gray Man

DSV also suggested this, over at Black Scout: How to Become the “Gray Man”- Urban Survival. This 10-minute video clears up a lot of myths and misconceptions about what it means to assume a Gray Man posture in a crowded urban environment. Think: Just another guy in a Toyota Corolla, wearing a sweatshirt.

Free Speech Is Dead in Canada

Courtesy of H.L.: Free Speech Is Dead in Canada: The Persecution of Christian Activist Bill Whatcott.  Here are a couple of snippets:

“Canada has enforced prohibitions on speech for some time.  Since 2003, one dared not speak critically of “sexual orientation.”  In 2013, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that earlier flyers by Whatcott (warning of homosexual health risks) amounted to prohibited “hate speech” – especially his use of the word sodomite…

…Even scarier, in the last two years, Canada has moved beyond prohibitions on speech.  Compelled speech has now become law regarding “gender identity or expression,” adding “transgender” protections to federal law in 2017 and British Columbia law in 2016.  Pronouns and new names chosen by a trans person must be used, or one might face discrimination charges for “misgendering” and “deadnaming.”

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Please send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!