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 the exodus from big cities.

Americans are Moving Out of Urban Counties

We’ll start out with this article suggested by reader H.L.: Americans are moving out of urban counties like never before.

Buyers Snap Up Rural Texas Properties

As reported on the Texas Digital News web site: Buyers rush to snap up rural Texas properties. Here is a quote:

“Rural land sales in Texas continue to soar as buyers rush to purchase property for subdivisions, investments, farming or bucolic retreats, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.

Sales statewide surged to 9,331 in the third quarter, up 40 percent from a year ago, and the average price per acre jumped nearly 25 percent to $3,717.”

Major Cities in the United States Lost Residents

From the Mexican Infobae news service: Major cities in the United States lost residents during the pandemic. JWR’s Comment: The demographic trends are unmistakable. Just look at the Census Bureau statistics.

California’s Population Loss

In the Ventura County Star: Population loss: new era or pandemic glitch? The article begins:

“The numbers suggest a major change is underway in California. It would take a Nostradamus to know if that change is real and long lasting or if those proclaiming it are merely overreacting to a pandemic-induced glitch.

“We are in this new demographic era for California of very slow growth or maybe even negative growth,” pronounces Hans Johnson, a demographer for the Public Policy Institute of California.

Here are the numbers, and some of the implications if those numbers represent a trend rather than merely a glitch spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many millions around the world to hunker down wherever they were:

U.S. Census figures show California lost 262,000 residents between July 1, 2020 and the same date last year. That represented a net loss of .06% in population.”

Drone Carrying Handguns from U.S. to Canada

Peter sent this: Drone carrying bag of handguns from United States to Canada intercepted by tree.

Investigating Killed By Domestic Dog Pack

Reader H.L. sent us this news from Alabama: While investigating a dog attack, a state worker was killed by the pack. The intro to this news piece:

“The car had been sitting idly on Crumpton Road just outside of Red Bay, a northwestern Alabama town on the border with Mississippi, long enough for neighbors to grow suspicious.

But when sheriff’s deputies arrived Friday evening, they found the car’s owner. She was dead — Jacqueline Summer Beard had been mauled by a pack of dogs.

“In 27 years I’ve never saw anything like this,” Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver told WTVA.

Those same dogs were the reason Beard had been visiting the area that morning, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said. A 58-year-old employee for the Alabama Department of Public Health, Beard was following up on a report of a woman being attacked by a pack of dogs on Thursday.”

Ukraine Shipments Strain US Weapons Stockpile

Reader K.S. spotted this: Push to arm Ukraine putting strain on US weapons stockpile.

Whitehead on The Illusion of Freedom

A compelling essay by John W. Whitehead, cross-posted at Redoubt News: The Illusion of Freedom: We’re Only as Free as the Government Allows. Here is a brief excerpt:

“Truth be told, we live in a dictatorship disguised as a democracy where all that we own, all that we earn, all that we say and do—our very lives—depends on the benevolence of government agents and corporate shareholders for whom profit and power will always trump principle. And now the government is litigating and legislating its way into a new framework where the dictates of petty bureaucrats carry greater weight than the inalienable rights of the citizenry.

With every court ruling that allows the government to operate above the rule of law, every piece of legislation that limits our freedoms, and every act of government wrongdoing that goes unpunished, we’re slowly being conditioned to a society in which we have little real control over our lives.”