October 4, 2024

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at some predicted risks in 2024, and personal threat remediation steps taken by some billionaires.

Billionaires Prepping for Doomsday

Over at Daisy Luther’s The Organic Prepper blog: What Do All the Billionaires Know That Has Them Prepping for Doomsday?

January-March Temperature Outlook: Returning to a Mild Winter?

From Weather.com: January-March Temperature Outlook: Still Mild Across The Northern Tier.

Biden Goes On Record as Anti-Taiwan Independence

Reader H.L. spotted this, over at The New AmericanBiden: U.S. Does Not Support Taiwan IndependenceJWR’s Comments:  Sniffy Joe has apparently just put the last nail in Taiwan’s coffin.  Biden’s statement will surely be seen by the Beijing government as their green light, for invasion. However, with the PRC/PLA’s desire to have Democrats running the U.S. government, they may wait until after the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, to invade Taiwan.

Dems Push Paramilitary Activity Ban Bill

Reader C.H. sent us this: Democrats propose bill to prohibit militia activity.  C.H. had these observations:

“Apparently there is already some legislation in all 50 states about paramilitaries, but they are not typically enforced.  This legislation, introduced by a couple of the usual suspects, will criminalize more behavior at the federal level.

From the article:

“The legislation would prohibit:

      • Publicly patrolling, drilling or engaging in harmful or deadly paramilitary techniques.
      • Interfering with or interrupting government proceedings.
      • Interfering with the exercise of someone else’s constitutional rights.
      • Falsely assuming the functions of law enforcement and asserting authority over others.
      • Training to engage in such behavior.”

The first, second, and last bullet points are especially concerning. A group of friends learning map reading, how to use a compass, and going to the range could all be called “paramilitary techniques.”  Same with any wilderness survival skills or courses. Friends at deer camp are now in the woods with weapons: “paramilitary activity.” Camping with friends? Is your gear from REI or military surplus? Rainbow-colored or olive drab?

Second point: How easy would it be to label ‘redress of grievances” as “interfering or interrupting government proceedings”?  Seems any decent prosecutor could do that with a grand jury. We know that the FBI was investigating parents opposed to the alphabet people’s agendas making their positions known at school board meetings. This makes such investigations even more official.

Third point: “Interfering with someone else’s constitutional rights.” Talk about projection. Look for the proponents of this bill to label this as voter suppression or some such nonsense.

Fourth point: A group of businessmen band together to protect their livelihoods during a period of civil unrest (rioting). Could they be charged with assuming a function of law enforcement? Seems so.

Last point: “Training to engage in such behavior.”  This could be as simple as shooting your scary black rifle at a range. You obviously don’t need a Scary Black Rifle unless you are training in deadly paramilitary techniques. Go with friends and suddenly you are “a paramilitary”. Many years ago I went to a Missouri Dept of Conservation range. I used to have a lot of respect for them. They run a number of rifle ranges across the state for public use.  The interesting part of my last visit was that they would not allow any silhouette targets, bullseyes only.  And they looked askance at my AR platform rifle and asked a lot of questions about it: “why?” and “what kind of ammo?”  I cut my visit short and never went back.

As with most legislation, it appears vague enough to cover nearly any activity. I’m not suggesting that violent subversive groups don’t deserve some attention. But this could easily apply to a group of friends and neighbors banding together for mutual support.”

The Top 10 Global Risks for 2024

From the left-wing editors of Time: The Top 10 Global Risks for 2024.

Davos 2024: Top Global Risks

And for a full-on statist/globalist perspective: Davos 2024: Extreme weather and misinformation top global risks.

Ray Epps Gets Just Probation and a $500 Fine

Over at the Whatfinger.com site: Ray Epps Sentenced to Probation: Examining the Controversial Decision in the Aftermath of January 6thJWR’s Comment:  It is ironic that Stewart Rhodes of Oathkeepers got an 18-year sentence for discussing getting involved, but never actively encouraging making entry to the capitol building. In contrast, Ray Epps only got probation for actively and quite vocally fomenting a riot, right on the scene at the Capitol complex.)

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