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 the lateR. Lee Ermey.  May he rest in peace.

R. Lee Ermey Snubbed in Oscar Memoriam Montage

Marine Corps veteran and beloved character actor R. Lee Ermey was missing from the “In Memoriam” segment of the 2019 Academy Awards.  They may have overlooked Gunny Ermey, but we haven’t!

PayPal CEO Admits Partnership with SPLC to Blacklist Conservatives

This comes as no great surprise: PayPal CEO Admits Partnership with Far-Left SPLC to Blacklist Conservatives

U.S. Power Grid Vulnerability

Readers K.B. and D.B. both sent us this: Tommy Waller: U.S. Power Grid Vulnerable to Everything from EMP Bombs to Rifle Bullets.  Here is an excerpt:

“‘A study done by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that just the right nine substations attacked in the United States – if someone just with rifles attacked the right nine substations – the cascading failures and power outages could put us in a blackout that could last about 18 months,’ he reported.'”

The Universal Phobia: Being Afraid To Kill Despite Training

Reader Tim J. sent this along to us: The Universal Phobia: Being Afraid To Kill Despite Training, Bearing Arms

Paratus Familia Blog Update

We’ve been delighted to see that our friend “Enola Gay” is back to posting regularly in her fantastic Paratus Famila blog.  In the last year and a half their family moved from one part of the Redoubt to another, up on the Weippe Prairie, perched above the Clearwater River Valley. There, they established a family-run butcher shop where they process both livestock and wild game. Their prices are fair, their meat cutting is excellent, and they’ve earned themselves customers from as far away as eastern Washington. Now that their shop is running like clockwork, Enola Gay has had the time to post to her blog a couple of times a week. Her blog is a delight to read. It has a great mix of their family’s adventures, recipes, helpful advice on country living, scripture, and photography of the region. If you need any meat processing, you can contact them at Boar’s Head Highland Butchery, in Weippe, Idaho. Their shop is often busy, so it is best to schedule butchering well in advance, or off-season. Phone: (208) 435-4900.

American Women Now Military Draft Eligible

With women in combat roles, a federal court rules the male-only draft unconstitutional.

Former Federal Prosecutor: “We Are In A Civil War… I Buy Guns”

Peter mentioned this piece over at Zero Hedge: Former Federal Prosecutor: “We Are In A Civil War… I Buy Guns”

Ted Cruz Introduces Term-Limit Bill

H.L. suggested this, over at WND: Ted Cruz introduces term-limit bill – just two terms for senators

Firearm Parts Registration in CA? AB-879

California’s lawmakers are now certifiably insane. Any gun owner living in California should watch this video:  Firearm Parts Registration in CA? AB-879.  (Thanks to G.P. for the link.)

Your Smartphone and Your Privacy

The latest from Kit Perez, at American Partisan: Your Smartphone and Your Privacy.  A quote from her article’s opening:

“As of 2017, about 77% of American adults have a smartphone. It’s unknown exactly how many kids and teenagers have one, but the numbers are staggeringly high. In other words, if you do NOT have a smartphone, you’re in the minority…but that won’t completely protect you either, as we’ll see.

We generally have our phones with us at all times, and instead of turning them completely off, we typically put them on vibrate or silent. They’re always on, always working and collecting, and as we now know, always listening.”

JWR’s Comment: If you must have a cell phone, then at least buy one with a removable battery!  I use an older Tracfone flip phone. I only rarely turn it on. (Only when traveling.) And I often completely remove the phone’s battery. That cannot be easily done with most smartphones. But it just takes a few seconds with my trusty old “dumb phone.” Perhaps it is best that I don’t live inside of cell phone coverage, where I’d probably pine for smart phone features!

You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!




27 Comments

  1. Re: EMP. There is a part of me that sorta hopes that and EMP will happen, since it may be the only thing that will save this country.

    Re: Term Limits. Horrible idea. It guarantees that senators will spend the second term (6 years) beholden not to the people, but rather to lobbyists. Right now, the lame duck session is very short. This would create a 6 year lame duck session for senators. I am opposed to term limits. I instead support educating the public so they can be smart enough to vote out the crooks. Unfortunately, due to public education, the majority WANT communism, so they vote accordingly. Our Republic is GONE. Persecution will come shortly.

    1. Re: Term limits. How about a single term, House or Senate, and they get back to being productive members of society? I know that bar patrons in NY would really appreciate having their bartender and corn dog maker back.

    2. Unless there’s a civil war, then you just need a high powered rifle and to trace the electrical lines to the transformers.

      If you read the report, that is more worrysome since those have long lead times and there aren’t many spares (and are hard to transport)

    3. Or maybe we just repeal the 17th Amendment and restore Senators’ original responsibility of representing States (a balance against the Fed Gov) instead of pandering directly to individual voters?

    4. Re: Term Limits.
      It is probably the only thing that will save us. The post above has one scenario, but the opposite is; maybe in their second term they will do the right thing instead of what would be best for re-election or getting on a cushy committee. The public being “smart enough to vote out the crooks” will take years of correcting the education system. We could revisit the term limit law in, say twenty or thirty years, but it is definitely needed. The presidency is a term limited job, why not the Senate and House of Representatives?

    5. I’d rather see a repeal of the 17th amendment. Then it would be up to the individual states governments how long their senator would be in office. As of now the States have zero representation in congress. The senate only represents the evil communistic two party system. Had the 17th amendment not been in effect, Obamacare would NEVER have made it out of the senate.

      Also of note; Ted Cruz bill also limits the house to 3 terms, unless there has been an unpublished change to the bill.

    6. Regards EMP: I sometimes think that an EMP or CME would “purify” America. The libtards, metro sexuals and most of the far left who depend entirely on the government for their every need would be out of the picture in a year. I only hope that conservative gun owners are making preparations for such an event.MM

    7. Gov’t is too complex at state and federal levels. Term limits transfer the knowledge of gov’t to the lobbyists and policy non-profits instead of the elected officials who represent the people. In states like Ohio, being able to bounce back and forth from house and senate helps to mitigate, but only minimally.

      One thing is for certain — two term limits are far too short if you want to avoid the above scenario.

  2. BEING AFRAID TO KILL
    I remember joining the Navy and it occurring to me that asking, if you are willing to die for your country, is the wrong question. Any idiot can die, they all do. The right question is are you willing to kill. Same applies to everyday carry. I asked my nephew the same question while trying to dissuade him from joining. The question really freaked his parents out, more than the willing die question did. And that question SHOULD freak you out or you’re a psychopath of some type I would imagine. Don’t end up with a team, or personally, with a Lt. Col. Grossman problem on your hands. On Killing is an excellent book. The study is boring but the price is worth reading for the introductory chapters, unless of course you like boring studies as many do. Either way, if you carry a weapon, read the book.

  3. The best solution to corrupt politicians that I ever heard, and I can’t remember where I heard it, was that after every election, the loser should be taken out behind the chemical sheds and SHOT.
    And the WINNER.

    1. I’ve said before that Americans are voluntarily waltzing right through the front gate of the electronic prison compound, and they’re paying for the privilege.

  4. The book “Lights Out” by Ted Koppel, shed a lot of light on the grid down scenario. Well researched with anecdotes from numerous energy officials regarding the vulnerability of the grid in it’s entirety. A portion of it describes the take out of a substation in the San Jose area. Seems someone, as today still uncertain who, took out a few transformers with a 5.56. Left casings, only about 3-4 were found. No one noticed as power was switched to an alternate substation. Affected substation was out of commission for over 6 months.
    Main point was that our entire grid in it’s entirety is very vulnerable to any sort of sabotage or terrorist/EMP attack. As I understand it there are only 3 mfg. of transformers in the entire US, and they do not produce the custom & large transformers most high transmission substations use. Most are mfg. in China and can take as long as 2 years to produce. With the fragility of our economy as well as the entire world economy operating upon borrowed time borrowing everything from everyone else, even if said transformers were available getting them shipped here may be the biggest hurdle. When our economy, or any large countries economy goes down the drain the rest will be affected and may implode as well. Needless to say, get your act together boys and girls, our society that we grew up knowing, is in deep kimchee….

  5. RE: women to Selective Service … in the event of a call-up after this is implemented, I expect we would find our country well-populated with new babies …

  6. Re: “Lights Out”. No government entity has the slightest idea what to do following an EMP event! FEMAs response;keep a three day supply of food and water. ? what do you do on day four?

  7. Blackberry Q10 is the newest blackberry w/ removable battery and most secure operating system available, despite being dated at this point.

    Blackberry Q20/Classics are newer, but no removal battery.

    Both are 4G devices but not 4G LTE, at least on Verizon.

    Both also run Blackberry OS10 system. Blackberry 7 devices (such as Blackberry Bold — IMO the best “smartphone” including blackberry ever) that runs email off of BIS — will end service at the end of 2019. Blackberry 10’s email will continue to function, but Blackberry World, where you download apps will end function the end of 2019 as well. So definitely loa

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