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”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at veterinary antibiotics.

All Antibiotics for Livestock Will Soon Require a Vet’s Prescription

Reader D.B. sent this bad news for survivalists: All antibiotics for livestock will soon require a vet’s prescription. A quote:

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service wants producers to be aware that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is continuing the phasing in of a law that requires a prescription for any antibiotic use in animals raised for human consumption, as well as for all companion animals.

A prescription is already required for most antibiotics delivered to livestock, and the remaining three categories of injectable antibiotics available over-the-counter will soon be joining the list of medically important antimicrobials that require a veterinarian’s prescription.”

Hong Protestors Hold Out in University Siege

Linked over at the great Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Hong Kong: About 100 protesters still hold out in University siege as Communists Crack Down

Berkeley Instructor Blasts Rural Americans

M.G. sent this: Berkeley Instructor: “Rural Americans” Are “Bad People Who Have Made Bad Life Decisions”.

Here is a key quote, from one of his tweets:

“I unironically embrace the bashing of rural Americans. they, as a group, are bad people who have made bad life decisions… …Some, I assume, are good people. But this nostalgia for some imagined pastoral way of life is stupid, and we should shame people who aren’t pro-city.”

SOCOM Is Field Testing Lightweight Body Armor

Over at Military.com: SOCOM Is Field Testing Lightweight Body Armor Originally Developed for Its ‘Iron Man’ Suit.

Social Media Censorship Reaches New Heights

Reader H.L. spotted this over at Lew Rockwell’s site: Social Media Censorship Reaches New Heights as Twitter Permanently Bans Dissent

No More LASIK?

Reader DSC flagged this: LASIK eye surgery should be taken off market, former FDA adviser says. Here is a key quote:

“Since 1998, an estimated 20 million LASIK procedures have been performed, and according to an FDA patient survey, more than 95% of patients were satisfied with their vision after surgery.

Still, the FDA’s own website is filled with stories of serious complications. Patients reported “relentless eye pain,” dizziness and detached retinas, and told the agency: “LASIK ended my life” and “this procedure needs to stop.”

“Essentially we ignored the data on vision distortions that persisted for years,” said Morris Waxler, a retired FDA adviser who voted to approve LASIK. He now says that vote was a mistake.”

Avoid Public USB Charging Stations!

Kim Komando’s tech web site warns: You need to avoid public USB charging stations – here’s why

Matt Christiansen on Saying The Unsayable Name

Matt Christiansen: YouTube Accuses Me of Credibly Threatening Someone’s Life, Refuses to Say Who (But We All Know)

Internal Passports are Coming

Reader H.L. sent us this from “Real ID”? Internal Passports Come to USSA.

A quote:

“Police are warning people against using public USB stations like the ones you find at airports. That’s because hackers are using a scam known as “juice jacking” to rip people off.

Here’s how it works: While most of the legitimate charging stations are probably fine, it’s possible for some to be configured to install malware on phones, or even steal data via juice jacking. Just plugging your phone or tablet into a hacked port could put everything on your device at risk.

A Los Angeles official explained, “credit cards, passwords to banking accounts, your home address — all of that if you’ve ever put it into the internet anywhere could potentially be saved in your history in your phone.””

Chile Protesters Kill a Police Drone with Lasers

T.Z. sent us this: Watch Chile Protesters Kill A Police Drone Using Hundreds Of Laser Pointers

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




33 Comments

  1. You can use a wireless charging pad if your phone supports it and no data will be exchanged. You can also clip the data lines from a cable or use a USB “condom”. Or charge your power bank and have your power bank charge your phone.

    Or use a tablet and dumb phone that will last days on one charge.

    1. Your comment here relates to thoughts of concern I have had recently. If corporations have been taking over food production, and many small farms have been driven out for many reasons (politics, economics, influences of urban living or the like), then how can the older concept of rural farmers and independence still be valued at the level that it once was, in modern times?

    2. I teach high school agriculture in a relatively rural area, and one the first day of class one of the first questions I ask my students is “Ok, someone tell me where your food comes from?”
      Over the last few years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of students who answer “The grocery store” or ” the restaurant” and quite a few of them don’t understand that it come from a farm. I have even had students who do not know that beef comes from cattle, and this is from students at a school that has cattle, goats, chickens, and turkeys on campus. It definitely makes for an uphill battle when I am teaching them to actually raise plants and animals themselves.

  2. Unfortunately this guy will be one of the ones wanting a hand out when the SHTF. Hopefully the cull that happens afterword will consume him along with the other dummies. Stupid people shouldn’t breed.

  3. Funny how on the left always thinks of themselves as being the smartest people in the room and then the most ridiculous things come out of their mouth.

    ” Shaming people ” for living in a rural area area ?

    Sounds like sour grapes from the deplorables electing the wrong president 🙂

  4. Looks like the FDA is up to it’s usual tricks, denying access to medicines by driving the costs up dramatically by requiring a prescription. Another bloated government agency working against the very people they are supposed to be serving. Who will now pay for this? We the consumers of course.

    As for social media banning something, who needs facebook, twitter, etc. anyway? There are alternative ways to communicate.

    Regarding the Berkeley instructor: Isn’t this hate speech and should he not be dismissed by their own standards? Or should I say double standards.

    1. There is reasoning for needing scripts for antibiotics. They’re so over-proscribed that many are losing their effectiveness. Most docs will proscribe them when they’re not called for. If we want them to work in the future we need to reduce our current usage.

    2. To expand on Jon’s comment. The cattle yards prescribe human antibiotics for healthy cattle to help them grow faster and stay healthy. Some of the bacteria exposed to the antibiotics develop resistance to the antibiotics. Later the resistant bacteria share the resistance genes with other bacteria including bad bacteria that can kill people (amazing, this is the equivalent of you sharing part of your genetic code with a neighbor who can incorporate it into their genes). The bad bacteria now can’t be killed by the antibiotics any more, but the bacteria can still kill people. More people already die from antibiotic resistant bacteria than die by homicide.

      The sad part is that many of the veterinarians are in bed with and are economically dependent on the cattle yards for income. Prescriptions for healthy cattle will continue, usefulness of antibiotics will continue to deteriorate, and more and more people will die from antibiotic resistant bacteria. Over time this will become very serious unless someone develops a magic solution (unlikely).

      1. Jon+Greg, be aware that the World Health Organizatio has just declared a Polio outbreak caused by vaccinations,they have confirmed the cases are caused by the vaccine strain not the “wild” strain. The overuse of antibiotics probably caused a mutation that won’t be contained.

        1. Negative; Polio is a virus, so you could have pure penicillin running through your veins and it would be unaffected.

          Some vaccines work off of dead viruses and some work off weakened ones.

          1. To build off Vagus’ comment, large majority of the time when we have ear infection, bronchitis, sinus infections, strep throat, conjunctivitis… it’s viral. Antibiotics won’t do a dang thing. Unfortunately many providers don’t want to take the time to educate their patients and just throw abx at the problem when it won’t help, and in all probability will make things worse. The worse part is because it will kill all of the good bacteria in your gut that help produce your immune system response. The good bacteria can take up to 3 months to regenerate after using a round of antibiotics.

            Viruses are either getting stronger or our immune systems are weaker. Colds that used to be fought off in a few days now take a week or two. Same with all the other viral infections. People don’t realize the timeline and think oh it’s been 2-3 days, it’s got to be bacterial.

            If you want to help your kids be the healthiest they can be, avoid antibiotics as much as humanly possible. Use elderberry, fire cider, ginger and other traditional immune boosters. It might stink in the short term, but long term your kids will be healthier and happier.

  5. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The liberal (socialist, progressive, democrat, collectivist, communist, globalist) does not live who has matured beyond the age of 12.

    The grandiosity, self-entitlement, magical thinking, naivete and general childish obnoxiosity are diagnostic of the preadolescent. Their thoughts, needs, and opinions can be safely dismissed out of hand.

    Charge up your Tesla and cummon out to the country “professor.” We’ll show you a good time.

  6. In a quote attributed to AOC, “We don’t need farmers anymore. We have grocery stores.” It would appear that that pearl of logic has made it’s way to Berkeley.

  7. If it comes to a ‘civil war’, which I really, really do not want, one certain strategy will be denying food shipments to the urban (communist-run) areas. And in some cases, water also.

  8. Also, mr ucberzerkly, no matter how much you hate us, we hate you more. Don’t ever get near us or we will show you how much. Stay safe in your little “people’s republic.”

  9. Re. antibiotics
    Eight years ago you could buy medical antibiotics without prescription. (Dr. Bob Olson of Surviving Healthy as mentioned here for example). USG shut that down. Next they will close the ‘fish tank loophole’.

    You can search SurvivalBlog and find excellent articles on antibiotics. Then act accordingly.

    On the fence? Sit down with your spouse and watch ‘After Armageddon’ (2011), a surprisingly good docu-drama produced by History Channel ($7 Amazon).

  10. Some of the stupidest smart people I’ve ever met came out of prestigious universities. It’s the dumb ones like this Berkeley guy that get the headlines. Most if his colleagues are sitting behind closed doors talking about what an idiot he is.

  11. The comments of one graduate student who happens to teach some classes at Berkeley is not representative of the opinions of 84% of the population who live in cities. There are efficiencies to people living in cities, for example a central water or sewer system for 1M people is less expensive per person than individual wells and septic systems for the same families living in rural areas (I’m looking at rural land for a bug out location and that well and septic will be a $35,000 expense). An apartment building for 500 people requires fewer building materials and less energy to heat and cool than housing in most rural areas. Residents in dense cities with mass transit spend less money on transportation than suburban or rural residents that must travel by car. Although some services can be delivered more efficiently, the actual cost to live in cities vs rural areas has many components and isn’t so straight forward of an analysis. Among many drivers, Supply and demand skew prices that can be charged. Costs also ignore each persons definition of quality of life. Also know that many in the cities lament the demise of the family farm and farmers. Corporate control of the farms and food supply isn’t good for the land, the quality and safety of the food, or the people who eat the food.

    1. As the owner of an urban homestead, I agree with you, Don. Even as I have the grocery stores and city services available, I collect rainwater and raise a big garden. I choose to learn rural skills while now living in the city.

      One benefit is nearby people to network and ally with. We can walk to be with each other s we develop trust.

      Carry on

  12. Are their any herbal remedies that even approach the effectiveness of antibiotics?

    How long do fish antibiotics retain potency?

    The article mentions injectable antibiotics. Would this impact availability of fish antibiotics?

    1. Yes. Elderberry syrup, fire cider, ginger bug. All have extremely powerful antibacterial and antiviral properties. My wife is a PA in an urgent care clinic and regularly gets coughs in the face from unhealthy inconsiderate people, dosing with elderberry thru the flu season has prevented both of us from getting sick over the past 4-5 years.

  13. JBH, we have used Golden Seal root for viral outbreaks for many years. My mother in law had a nasty ulcer on her calf. An acquaintance suggested she take golden seal root, slippery elm and one other herb that escapes me at the moment. The prescription drugs she was taking for it weren’t helping, so she tried herbs. Wow. Not only did it cure the leg ulcer, it never reoccurred. So my wife tried it when she got cold sores. At first it reduced the severity of the attack, then the attacks disappeared completely. REMEMBERED!!! The third herb was white oak bark. All of these can be found at a good health food store or vitacost dot com.

    I realize these work for viral infection. For antibiotics we take the occasional cruise that stops in Cozumel, where many prescription meds, including antibiotics, are sold over the counter.

    Twelve years ago my wife was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She had a complete hysterectomy, but refused chemo and radiation. The oncologist was sending angry certified letters to my wife, the surgeon, the gynecologist, etc. How dare she! We went to a natural medicine healer who prescribed reishi, astragalus, host defense, all found at vitacost. Twelve years, all is well.

    Recently a friend cured her lung cancer with Panacur. This is a wormer that we use in our horses. Before you laugh, gggle it,

  14. Does UC Berkeley Prof suggest the government should take charge of rural land ? They manage everything else so well. My bad decision to take responsibility for some of our own food production and be a steward of the forest and surrounding land. Maybe I should bulldoze it all , wildlife,waterways and trees be damned. I feel like such a fool. The government and unfunded mandates will probably tax me out anyway. Due to ignorant ideas being taught. Ask anyone in the trades how hard it is to find young people to work. Thanks professor . Thank you survivalblog and keep up the good work.

  15. UC Berkeley instructor is a shining example of what some universities are producing. Usually try to stay positive with my comments, but can only take so much. thank you.

  16. Needed Real ID for possible emergency air travel. Found out the “birth certificate” my mother used to get my social security card and I used my entire life was a certificate of birth registration and no good for Real ID. Was born while dad served in military in a different state than I live in now. No problem there is a company called Vitalchek (spelling may be incorrect) contracted with all or near all US counties for birth records. It is terrifying the amount of information they know about us. Other than myself I would have believed only my mother knew this information. She has passed so I know they didn’t ask her, she wouldn’t have talked anyway. They facilitated my timely receipt of a copy of my actual birth certificate for a reasonable fee. As I answered the required questions to verify I was entitled to the certificate I wondered if I could answer some of the questions from my early years. Fortunately I could. Other certificate was fine for over 45 years. I may have posted about this before , thought it was worth mentioning again . Thank you and keep up the good work.

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