Category Archives: news

What is Your Media Diet?

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We Drudge, we Prepper Website, we SHTFplan and we may even Future Danger from time to time. As preppers and survivalists we consume a lot of media. In fact, its one of the more addictive parts of this whole process. There are tons of sites and youtubers out there who are hungry for your likes, subscribes and shares. What is this bottomless pit of media do for you? How does it make you feel?

I am a firm believer in being up to date on the issues of the day. I am currently working on a book that integrates intelligence and information more thoroughly into your preparedness plans. I say this because I think highly of this process.

Still, you can click on a single article an find yourself burning up 2-3 three hours following these media wormholes that lead to more articles and videos and no one feels good about spending all that time online. What is your media diet like?

Time is precious. Though what I am saying is blasphemous to bloggers, like myself, but the truth is we need to limit our screen time. We need to look at the types of media we are consuming an the time spent consuming it. This can dramatically affect how you interact with the world around you.

Are you consuming media for more than 1 hour per day?

Are you consuming primarily negative news?

How much does the media you consume affect your overall attitude?

Are you inspired by the media you consume?

The types of media content you absorb is another very important thing to consider. Ultra-violent content or hyper sexual content can cause severe damage to your psyche. We concern ourselves so much with what goes into our body now. We know exactly what effects unhealthy food can have on our health. What about bad media? There are effects.

Here are some sites that I frequent to get some combating media to all of the TEOTWAWKI, SHTF, PREPPER talk that we bury ourselves in.

www.popularmechanics.com

www.flyfisherman.com

https://zenhabits.net/

On social media follow

@kickbackshak

@iamlibertyshow

@jockowillink

Make sure you are taking a break from all the media and be sure to integrate some positivity into your day. Life is hard enough and if you spend time only looking at the negative I think you know what will come of your attitude. We are going to discuss this in more detail on my show this week. Live 9 EST at www.prepperbroadcasting.com come join the live chatroom.

2017 EDC Items You Haven’t Heard Of

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Depending on the type of person you are, everyday carry can be a smart and measured group of items that you carry on your person all the time or a total obsession that eats up all of your time. Some people suffer from both definitions. It’s very exciting to add and subtract, to whittle away at the unnecessary until you wind up with the perfect mix of quality and necessity.

Thanks to crowdfunding there are companies popping up all the time offering great products to help refine your everyday carry setup. In this article, I have compiled a list of 5 products that you may not have heard of in 2017.

Dango Products

“The Tactical Wallet was designed for the outdoor enthusiast that loves to keep things clean and needs to have tools easily accessible. There are over 14 functions built in. The Dango MT02 Multi-Tool slides into the cavity where the cards sit. When engaged, the multi-tool can nest securely into the safety locks built into the wallet chassis- allowing for easy sawing, cutting and protection. Common tools are built in: hexes, para cord cutter, nail pryer, knife, saw and even a phone stand. We thought of everything and think that you will be pleased with all of the functions built into such a small package.”

I carry this wallet personally and whether you decide to go with the multitool insert or not I can tell you this is a functional wallet that will force you to be more organized. With the multitool you have a ton of features and the fact that they are all stout and part of one piece of metal makes the tool very effective. When it comes to the dapper factor, this is a very handsome wallet.

Combat One

“Combat One is one of the most effective hygiene tools at your disposal for maintaining your health and welfare – no matter what conditions you find yourself in. Combat One is committed to our nation’s fighting Warriors as much as they are committed to the people they serve. They know they can depend on our entire line of products and trust us for developing highly-effective, quality skin and muscle maintenance systems. In fact, Combat One has received more than a 97% approval rating by U.S. Military Warriors when asked if they would use Combat One again.”

Combat One is a marvel for the EDC enthusiast. The field spray and foam come in these wonderful little bottles that will slip right into your Maxpedtion or just into your pocket. This spray will cleanse with a powerful and natural antibacterial that needs zero ounces of your precious water to work.

Urban Mini Organizer

Urban Organizer Mini

“As featured on Everyday Carry and Gear Moose, the Urban Organizer Mini is perfectly sized for your pocket carry. The compactness allows you to slip it easily into your front pocket without any added bulk. It comes with two front slots for your most essential tools, as well as a card slot in the back for your most frequently used credit card, a convenient place for your folded bills, and a middle slot for everything else.”

Not only is this great little organizer worth talking about but the entirety of urban EDC supply’s inventory is worth a look for the average EDC enthusiast. The Urban Mini pocket organizer will challenge you in the same way as the Dango Dapper. This product is simply high-quality leather and I like the fact that in a survival situation you could use the wallet itself as a survival material.

Urban Survival Kit ITS Tactical

https://store.itstactical.com/edc/its-urban-kit.html

“The Urban Kit is our solution for the tools needed during Escape and Evasion or a Home Invasion Scenario to escape from illegal restraint. Escaping illegal restraint from Zip Ties and Handcuffs is heavily advocated here at ITS Tactical and as long as Zip Ties are available and Handcuffs can be purchased by anyone off-the-shelf from Army-Navy stores or a host of resources online, the average citizen needs to have access to these tools to escape potential illegal restraint.”

The urban kit is not cheap. That is not a knock on the product but more of a statement to let you know it’s made here in America and its made from quality products. This kit is designed for escape and evasion which gives it an edge over most basic survival kits. This is a beautiful little EDC item you should add to your system today.

Uzi TACPEN3 Defender

http://www.uzi.com/tactical-pens/uzi-tactical-defender-pen-3-black

“The UZI-TACPEN3-BK Defender Tactical Pen is made of heavy duty lightweight aircraft aluminum and features a DNA catcher and built in cuff key. Screw out the rear end DNA Catcher to reveal the secret hand cuff key, compatible with most professional handcuffs. Tried and tested.”

I used to be an avid dispeller of the tactical pen. The funny thing about that is I AM A WRITER. The idea of having a quality pen never really appealed to me. I know. It’s very silly. I have since made the jump from the world of tac pens and one of the best brands is UZI. If you aren’t carrying a good pen it’s time to grow up. These are also great when you are going into an amusement park or somewhere a knife cannot go.

EDC is very important part of your arsenal. The important thing to remember is EDC is a rapidly evolving industry that is highly influenced by technology. It is important not to remain complacent about your EDC or you could be missing out on some serious upgrades and efficiencies.

This is Why the Community Rules for Preppers

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The community is our greatest ally. It’s not our bugout bag, our network of government moles or even our high-powered arsenal. All the information in the world cannot help you if it all comes crashing down. When you look at real life disaster, natural disaster, its neighbors helping neighbors. Of course, the prepper issue is our neighbors will become enemies because they are not prepared. Well, can we change that? I have been a part of this community for 5 years and I know there are some highly intelligent people involved.

 

There are ways we can build community bonds while nudging people in the direction of preparedness. You may feel a little manipulative at times. I always feel like I am walking this fine line between being a manipulator and a nudger when I write or speak on this topic. Still, it’s the reality of what we must do. Our ability to push people in the right direction changes our concerns and theirs without them even knowing it.

We achieve this through some solid methods:

1. Community Garden
2. Communication Network
3. Community Watch
4. Bartering
5. Community Preparedness

In this order, you will have as much success as you can. If you start with community preparedness your efforts will be in vain. Start with the community garden because you will be hard pressed to find people who think it’s a bad idea.

Community Garden

Start a gardening club or a community gardening club. This will be your allies. You’ll gain some and you will lose some along the way but they will always be around for you. Some things that must be addressed with this first objective is location and funding. If you have a spot and the money to get it done then you are going to be right on your way. If not, you will have to get creative.

Communication Network

Once you have built yourself a small band of resistance in the garden it’s time to consider a neighborhood network for communications. Sure, email works but its 2017 and there are tons of other great ways to take advantage of your neighborhood. Check out Nextdoor. This is an incredible site and app that allows you to communicate with neighbors, assign events, comment on threads and even map out Halloween routes! Most importantly, it can be your go to communication method following a disaster.

Community Watch

The next step is to address some of the concerns you will get through Nextdoor with a community watch. Chances are you are gonna have people reporting on crime and that is a significant use for your communication network. Gather some folks together who think the community watch is a great idea. Depending on size of community you may need more or less people. Go to nnw.org to register your neighborhood and get ideas on how to run a great watch program.

Barter Yard Sale

By this point you and your community will have a proven track record of doing innovative and exciting things for the benefit of the neighborhood. Bring up the idea of bartering within the community during your next big yard sale event. Have outsiders pay cash, like a traditional yard sale and then have neighbors barter. In weight lifting they call this greasing the groove but it’s just getting used to a motion. Great practice for a disaster.

Community Preparedness

Finally, it’s time to start talking about preparing for catastrophe. Start by addressing those natural disasters that are common in your area. Your community should have a plan. You can discuss things like bulk purchasing of food storage and communications or maybe water and other services. Fuel storage in the neighborhood is a great option as well. Get creative and get people engaged.

Beyond this you will see your neighbors begin to change radically. They will have a community they value and an appreciation for the real-life threats that we face. Be an ear. Listen to their concerns and as they start to sound more like preppers merely coach them out of their shell. This is true success as a prepper.

Test your Might with these Survival Challenges

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One of the things I love about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is that your skill is your skill and its irrefutable on the mat. There is no veil on the mat and you cannot lie your way out of a head arm choke. Either you tapped or you tapped them or you guys stalemated due to evenly matched skills or fatigue. It is this reality and this truth that I would like to inject in to the prepper and survivalist world.

Men, in particular, are born with this innate belief that they are unbeatable. For many men, thankfully, they never get in fights and therefore never get tested. We have spent a lot of time in this period of enlightenment. This period will be followed by a period of action. If you look through history it always goes this way. The colonists were enlightened by the thievery of the crown and thus came the action, the American revolution.

Its important that we test and measure ourselves. I am going to offer up some ways for you to plan on doing just that with 4 prepper tests you should put on your schedule.

GORUCK

Are you an advocate for the bugout? Do you have the bags packed and the weapons ready? Why not put yourself to the test with this 15 – 20-mile adventure that is primarily running with a pack on and stopping for intermittent challenges along the way. Some of which are physical and others are more mission based.

The whole expedition is team oriented and will take you between 8-10 hours. I

Mammoth Sniper Challenge

The mammoth is just what it sounds like.

The Mammoth Sniper Challenge sponsored by Eotech is a 4-day precision rifle shooting competition held at Rockcastle Shooting Center in Park City, Kentucky. This event will offer unique opportunities to test your skill with a rifle and compete for prizes and bragging rights. The match will consist of:

10 stages to be completed as a team, 6 long stages and 4 shorter faster stages.

The match will be shot as a team match, 3 divisions- Tough man, Regular and Open. Note: Open Division will only be open to Teams that have legitimate reason for not being able to compete in the Regular Division, Medical Reasons or Match Sponsors.

Escape Room

The escape room is less of a physical challenge and more a challenge of the mind. These locations are popping up all over the country and are a lot of fun. Where you will see the benefits is in the team based problem solving.

You will be locked in a room of that requires you solve various puzzles to find keys to escape several rooms. You usually do this with a group of strangers which makes it even better. You are given an hour and it will take all that time to figure it out.

Check your local city for an escape room and book an early weekday to avoid crowds.

These challenges will take you out of your survival fantasy and thrust you into reality. You will be uncomfortable, you will be upset at times and you will be getting better! Tell me about some other challenges in the survival world.

Why You Need a Survival Drone

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Do you remember the intrusive feeling when you first heard about these little spy drones? We didn’t have access yet so it seemed unfair and ugly. I remember stories out of the county where people were shooting these little drones down like skeets with their shotguns. That’s the power of the 2nd Amendment by the way.

Years later I think it’s time we talk about the possibilities of drones in our preparedness efforts. We have a tremendous resource at our disposal in these drones and it’s important that we don’t turn a blind eye out of fear.

I will tell you a story about my own personal fear of this new tech:

I remember pulling up to work and watching a group of about 10 people standing before a camera drone that was buzzing at eye level before them. They were standing in front of a collection of donor plaques and looking to take a picture of the people and the plaques. The drone buzzed on, looking them in the eyes. In the early light of the morning immediately thought about drones armed with low caliber machine guns rather than cameras executing lines of Americans in just the fashion I was watching. It is this fear that we must overcome before diving into new tech.

Surveillance

Understanding the conditions in your immediate area as well as the conditions beyond is incredibly important. If local news is no longer broadcasting you will have no other source for local events. Violent riots, damage to significant infrastructures or clogged roads could all be a mystery without some sort of surveillance and intelligence plan.

This may be one of the most underrated pieces of the preparedness puzzle and I think a drone can be a big player in this part of your plans.

Protection

Drones began in the military and there are ways for you to affix various weapons to drones as well. I have seen drones affixed with guns and other things on videos. In the future, we may be able to purchase our own protection drones.

I like the idea of a less than lethal deterrent drone. Imagine a drone that could carry smoke, pepper spray or even a taser. One of these deterrent drones could act to keep people far from your property. You wouldn’t have to worry about the weight of ammo weighing down the drone either.

Resource Cache

When we talk about survival caches its often a PVC pipe that is buried somewhere or hidden. Well, let’s thing about a resource cache that is in the air. You could land this cache on your own roof or other high spots that would be nearly impossible to find. Now the items in this resource cache would have to be light depending on your drone size.

The DJI Agras MG-1 has the ability to carry 20lbs for 24 mins. This could be a great candidate for a small weapon payload or nice resource cache.

Here are some other great items that could be carried by a drone.

  1. Small med kits
  2. Water filters
  3. Dry, ready to eat foods
  4. Data on thumb drives
  5. Lightweight shelter
  6. Fire starters
  7. A micro survival kit with a combination of the above
  8. A large drone could carry a small handgun

 

These are just three uses for survival drones. I am sure you can come up with more. Leave some in the comments and join us live Wednesday night 9 EST at www.prepperbroadcasting.com where we will be discussing survival drones.

 

The Survival Entrepeneur

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The Survival Entrepreneur

There are lots of people out there making varying degrees of money from the survival niche. Whether its owning a blog, writing a book or even some level of training or consulting there is money to be made. There are even people making decent money with YouTube and survival content. You could also invent something great to affect the survival industry. Either way there is money to be made if you have great content or an excellent product.

I want to make the argument that my listeners should become survival entrepreneurs. Even if you start something very small you should at least dive into the niche and get yourself an LLC or a Business License. Thought it may seem like a lofty dream to quit your job and start a survival school its only loft because you look at it through the lens of everything that could fail.

There are several great benefits that come to the survival business owner. Some might be obvious while others are not.

Tax Money

Americans are terrible at saving money. Less than half of us have enough money to survive a month without income. When you own your own business suddenly you become accountable to the tax man for all your taxes. There is no company holding your taxes for you. Even if you pay quarterly taxes you will still wind up with a hefty sum of money.

Of course, this money is for the tax man but what if we face a collapse that suddenly makes paying taxes irrelevant. You have a little bit of extra money in the coffers.

Own Your Retirement

As a business owner, you must take full control of your retirement. There is no company putting money into a 401k for you. Still, you must work out some sort of retirement plan or else you will have nothing to fall back on if you decide to retire.

Having full control of your retirement makes it a priority. It also makes it fully customizable. You can spend more time on the right investments and even diversify with some precious metals in your portfolio or even get some physical silver.

FREE TIME!!!

Suddenly, you are no longer hampered by a 9-5 and though you may work more than 40 hours a week for your own business you can spread that out anyway you want to. This allows you plenty of time to focus on preparedness projects and other improvements including, the most important, self-improvement.

You will have free time if you carve it out. I encourage you to add it to your work day. Set aside time in your work day, break time, to do something you want to do. This doesn’t even have to be survival related. This free time will allow you to enjoy your life. One of the best parts about having no boss and running the show is being able to say, “I am going fishing today!”

More Time for Survival

It may sound counterintuitive but working in survival will actually give you more time for survival. You will be immersed in the resources and will quickly become much more efficient in your efforts. All of those gaps in your survival plan will slowly get filled and if you are smart you will incorporate that into your content as well. Something along the lines of:

“5 WAYS I IMPROVED MY BUG OUT BAG.”

Learn to make your duties work for you.

There are many ways you can benefit from being a survival entrepreneur. The overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that you will find from creating our own product or service is unmatched. Being an owner and being disciplines and responsible will make you a better person altogether.

Completely Sustainable Gardening System

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Is there anything like eating out of your backyard? I don’t know about you but when I get the change to look out back and see beds of kale, chard, beets and spinach growing tall I am so satisfied. Just having access to your own food is so wonderful. There is the self reliance that goes along with that and of course there are the vast nutritional benefits. I am always preaching about growing your own food and its an incremental process for many.

When I started on my ¾ of an acre lot I had lots of room but not enough vision. I tried all kinds of things. I remember growing in pallets, tilling dirt and just trying all types of methods. I wasn’t only looking for success but I wanted to have a system that allowed me to grow each year with minimal if any purchases from garden or hardware stores. I wanted to be able to improve my soil, gather my own seeds and have a completely sustainable garden system.

There are some very key measures you must take to make this work. After a few years of failures I learned a lot about how to create success and strive towards a more powerful and sustainable garden

Protection

If you are sharing a space with children, dogs, chickens or even wildlife protection is the key. You must build fences, cover small plants or start young ones in a greenhouse. You will lose too many plants if you allow these creatures (children included) free range over your young garden.

Compost

This is the live blood of your garden. Each year all that great nutrition will be sapped from your soil and into your plants. You can replace it by adding your own homemade compost to your garden beds at the turn of each season or at the end of your growing cycle.

Chickens

I am a huge proponent of keeping chickens. I think they have tremendous benefits to your yard, garden, health and way of life. Watching chickens is something that I really enjoy. That said, Their poop is gold for your garden. It cannot be used right away but after about 6 months of composting it will add growing power to your garden.

These are just some of the key elements to growing and creating a completely sustainable gardening system. Mine us only on ¾ of an acre and while it is not perfect yet, we are getting there.

We will discuss this and more on the Wednesday edition of the podcast. SO, don’t miss us live at www.prepperbroadcasting.com 9 EST. Come join the chatroom or call in 347-202-0228

 

!Aggregating Liberty! 3/20/17

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Create a Personal Hygiene and Santiation Kit

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Create a Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Kit

We all understand the importance of a first aid kit, right? When in the market for a good kit you are looking for something that has lots of options for the various types of materials you will need to clean, dress and heal wounds as well as various other ailments. There are other “kits” that we keep as well though we just don’t call them kits. What is your bugout bag if not a travel kit? How about your weapons options? Your guns, ammo, knives and other weapons make up your self-defense kit.

Plan to create personal hygiene and cleaning kit

In the post disaster environment water, shelter and food may be your top priorities but it won’t be long before you realize the importance of cleaning and personal hygiene. Disease will be a killer if access to clean water and supplies is cut off. You may be terrified by the bands of roaming criminals or the sounds of gunfire in the evening but some of the most dangerous players in the post-apocalyptic world will already be in your bed with you! These bacteria must be managed.

Your personal hygiene kit will cover several options for your needs. I will map out a sample kit below so you can begin procuring materials TODAY for your very own personally hygiene and cleaning kit.

VARIOUS SIZED TRASH CANS AND TIGHT FITTING LIDS

The days of the swing top cans will be gone. You will now be concerned with pests and their access to your trash both indoors and outdoors. Get rid of those open top containers and have replacements with tight fitting lids.

  1. Your kit will begin by sinking these cans inside one another with the lids on. If the lids don’t fit on zip tie them to the handles of the cans.

SEEDS

You probably didn’t expect to see something about seeds in a hygiene kit but the truth is there are tremendous benefits in some natural plants. Licorice root can make a tremendous toothbrush, the luffa plant will allow you to grow your own sponges and soapwort makes, you guessed it, a lathering solution similar to soap.

  1. Seal your seeds in Ziploc or Mylar bags and store them inside your collection of trash cans

CLEANING

Store plenty of baking soda, borax and vinegar. These will be basic cleaners for yourself and your home. With these three you will be amazed at just how clean you can get surfaces and people!

Also, consider a product called Combatone (www.combatone.com) This is a product designed for our soldiers in the field. It’s a great SHTF cleaning system for the human body. It’s designed to work with your skins natural bacteria. You don’t need any water for this stuff either!

  1. Store your cleaning supplies inside the stored trash cans as well.

PROTECTION

The final addition to your trash can hygiene and sanitation kit will be protection. Include plenty of trash bags for the sized cans you plan to use. Also, get your hands on plenty nitrile gloves, dust masks and even some disposable aprons. You could invest in some shoe covers as well but my recommendation would be to keep all shoes outside.

  1. Pack the collection of cans full of the rest of your resources and place the largest lid, securely, on top. Store this kit in your garage or somewhere that won’t have to consistently brave the elements.

Add what you like to this base kit to fit your family’s needs. That said, you will have a powerful jump on sanitation and hygiene with this simple kit on standby.

 

 

 

!Aggregating Liberty! 6/6/16

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