Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Terrorist Watchlist

72 Ways to End up on the Terrorist Watchlist

By Dave Dolbee published on in General



Come and Take It!, Molon Labe!, From My Cold Dead Hands! We have all heard the phrases and likely repeated many of them at one time or another, in or out of context to the Second Amendment and our rights. After a friend received a call the other day from the FBI due to a Facebook post, my interest was piqued and the search began. Quickly, it became apparent just how easy it is (or was) to get yourself put on a watchlist.



Terrorist Watchlist questionnaire
Terrorist Watchlist questionnaire

The details are rather scary and closely tied to the Obama administration. However, the links below all go to official U.S. Government sites and documents. It seems the Obama administration cast a fairly wide net when it came to labeling someone as a terrorist or ‘potential terrorist.’ How wide is that net today? Unfortunately, I do not know, but I’d bet many of you do.
Back in the days before the 44th President, the term ‘terrorist’ brought with it a rather narrow definition that was applied to the worst of the worst. Terrorist was reserved for people such as Osama bin Laden and Islamic jihadists bent of committing mass murder to support their political/religious agenda. However, our country (at least at the Executive level) went through a transformation. Many of us heard about it, but may or may not have fully understood the implications. Instead of simple political correctness by removing all references to Islam from government training materials, the term ‘terrorist’ or at least ‘potential terrorist’ started being applied to large groups of people—and by people I mean American citizens.
I do not want to run around screaming that the sky is falling or claim we all need to suddenly go dark or jump off the grid. However, could reading a firearm related blog such as this earn you a spot as a ‘potential terrorist’ under the government’s definition? How about posting your support for the Second Amendment and the right of self-defense to social media? What if you said nothing at all, but someone else included you in a photo or facial recognition software identified (or misidentified) you? The answers to these and many more questions are in the following links, but you’ll have to do some research and decide for yourself—however, even as the editor and senior writer for this blog, I have passed many, many backgrounds for permits, TSA precheck, Form 4473… So, my recommendation would be to read the following carefully, but not to read to much into the documents.
The documents predate August 2015, so take that into account. We have a new President and administration. I am not sure how up-to-date or applicable to today’s administration some of these linked documents or sites may be, but they will make you think and with the midterm elections around the corner. For example, today I received a form letter from one of my state senators, Tammy Duckworth, about how she supported common sense gun control and opposed national concealed carry reciprocity, blah, blah, blah. Our votes count; use them wisely.
Here is the list of 72 types of Americans that are considered to be ‘potential terrorists’ in official U.S. government documents as of August 2015.
Each listing below is an active link to the original source documentation indicating when and where the listed ‘subversives’ were originally considered a threat:

Just for fun score yourself. Without reading each document or visiting each link, but based on the title alone, how many of these could apply to you? One point each, for a maximum score of 72. Enter your score, thoughts, and results of your research in the comment section.

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The mission of Cheaper Than Dirt!'s blog, "The Shooter's Log," is to provide information-not opinions-to our customers and the shooting community. We want you, our readers, to be able to make informed decisions. The information provided here does not represent the views of Cheaper Than Dirt!

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Saturday, May 19, 2018

FBI Ammo

FBI divides $35M contract among three ammo companies


Guns.com reports that the big three ammo companies — Hornady Manufacturing, Winchester Ammunition, and Vista Outdoor — were given their own slice of a $35 million contract with the FBI for training rounds.

The Bureau awarded the contract for “9mm Luger service, reduced-lead training, and frangible ammunition,” according to April 2 announcement.

Taking $19 million, Vista will receive the bulk of the award, which covers up to four years. The company, which manages dozens of brands, said the agency opted for Federal Premium ammunition with a new match-grade bullet and a lead-free primer.

Hornady was contracted to fill an $11 million order. The Nebraska-based company said it will provide Hornad’s 9mm+P Luger 135 grain FlexLock Critical Duty ammunition.

Lastly, Winchester — owned by Olin Corp. — received the remainder of the contract, to the tune of $5 million.

The FBI switched back to issuing a 9mm handgun in 2016, when the agency awarded a contracted valued up to $85 million to Glock. The agency had relied on .40-caliber pistols beforehand.

JR Note:  The plated rounds are superior in shelf life, and the FBI chosen Glock has been one of my favorite brands for many years, one in fact that I won a shooting competition with, against military and police officers.   I'm also finding Guns.com to be an interesting source of information, and recommend you add them to your favorites list.

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Marine Corps Rifle


Guns.com reports that Heckler & Koch Defense, the domestic subsidiary of German gun maker HK last week secured a large contract for M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle systems for the U.S. Marine Corps.
The M27, a select-fire variant of the HK416 5.56mm gas piston rifle, has been used in small quantities by the Marines for the past decade to replace some M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. The new contract, announced by Marine Corps Systems Command on Friday, allows for $29.4 million for a maximum 15,000 M27 systems and spare parts to be delivered by 2023.
The contract specifies that the lion’s share of the work on the platforms will be completed in Oberndorf, Germany with about 30 percent split between U.S.-based facilities in Columbus, Georgia and Ashburn, Virginia. HK earlier this year announced the Georgia expansion to include a new 50,000 square-foot manufacturing plant.
Citing commonality and interchangeability with existing platforms, the M27’s weight advantage over the M249, and the belief that pursuing a contract with any other maker besides Heckler & Koch would mean four years before the Corps received the additional weapons, the Marines decided to use HK as the sole provider of the contract in 2017 rather than opening it up to competition. The original purchase was open to a maximum of 50,814 M27s, reflecting Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller’s assertions that he would like to arm every “0311” series rifleman with one of the rifles, replacing the M4.
The Marines are also on course to field the M38, an HK416 variant equipped with a Leupold TS-30A2 Mark 4 MR/T 2.5-8x36mm optic, as the new squad-designated marksman rifle. The standard optic on the M27 is the Trijicon ACOG.

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Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Top 10 Prepper Businesses


When the SHTF, some of the worst businesses to own will be:
  1. Pet Grooming 
  2. Nail/hair Salons
  3. Fitness Gyms
  4. Counseling
  5. Florist
  6. Dance Studio's
  7. Lawn Care
  8. Tattoo parlor
  9. Travel Agency
  10. McDonalds (fast food) although good for Salvaging food.
  11. Home Decor
Only businesses with skills that provide goods or services that are absolutely essential will survive.
Key businesses might include:
  1. Agriculture - farming, ranching, aquaponics, commercial fishing and plowing services will be of the utmost importance, as food will be a critical necessity
  2. Repair Shop - transportation, Appliances, motors, generators
  3. Black Smith - make plows, hoes, tools
  4. Wood working - saw mill, carpenter, build log cabins.
  5. Electrical Engineer - solar power, generators, hydro electric
  6. Medical Care - Doctor, Dentist, Nurse, EMT, First Aide, especially natural remedies.
  7. Wilderness Survival Expert / hunter, trapper, fisher
  8. Gun Smith - the ability to repair fire arms, but also to make other weapons like bows, arrows, knives & spears.
  9. Chemist - make gun powder, reload bullets, medicines
  10. Teachers - academics like history, math, reading/writing and science, but also vocational skills like those above.
Military - Security, Scout Patrols, etc. will be important skills and possibly a business to help you get set up.
What other businesses would you suggest?

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Thursday, May 3, 2018

Best Foods To Store

What Are The Best Foods To Store For SHTF Scenarios?


Once disaster has struck, one of the problems that many people will notice immediately will be that there is a massive shortage of food.
In fact, it is hardly a fantasy scenario to imagine that once things get rough, lone wolves, mobs, and gangs will go from street to street, supermarket to supermarket, and neighborhood to neighborhood searching for precious resources like food and water.
Your local stores will be robbed and anything worth having will be removed. Trucks will stop running and there will be no more restocking.
For this reason, we highly recommend that you store food in your home just in case things go south. If you never have to use this food, that’s great. If you do have to use it, then it’s a good thing that you have it.

Stored up food is kind of like a parachute. It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. And if you don’t have it, you will probably never need it again.


So the question arises of what kind of food is best to store for those “uh oh” times in life. Let’s establish some criteria for this survival food.
#1: Long Lasting: When building up your food stores, you want to make sure that anything you have can stay edible for a long time. Spam gets a lot of flak, but anything that can last 500 years is definitely going in my survival food storage!
As a rule of thumb, cans, dried noodles, cereal or granola, peanut butter, etc. are all great because they take a long, long time to spoil.
#2: Easily Stored: Having incredible food won’t matter if you can only store a few meals worth of it. When picking out food for your storage, make sure that it can be stored pretty easily on a shelf, on the floor, or however you’ve decided to do it.

This rule does mean that your stored food should not need to be refrigerated or frozen. It should be able to be stored at room temperature, since electricity may or may not be present if disaster strikes.
Cans work great for this, as they can be stacked.

#3: Good Tasting: Your stored up food won’t do you much good if you and your family refuse to eat it because it tastes like junk. Now I’m not saying you need a five course gourmet meal, but do stock some things that taste pretty good.

Good tasting food keeps your family moral up and, obviously, are a lot more enjoyable than protein bars for 30 days in a row.

#4: Easily Prepared: If your food needs a microwave or an oven, don’t even bother storing it for disaster. If you can make a fire, then you may be able to cook some food, but assume that fire will be an impossibility. Make sure your food can be opened and eaten.

#5: High Calorie: Yep, I said it. Your stored up food needs to be packing in the calories to have maximum effectiveness. Even though high calorie foods are hailed as evil in our current culture, calories are the lifeblood of energy and without energy, you don’t survive.
Simple as that.

Now don’t go out and buy a whole bunch of Krispy Kremes and consider yourself ready for the apocalypse.

Sweets make for poor survival food because calories are not created equal. Here’s a little breakdown for you.



Where Do Calories Come From?

All calories come from one of three things: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
We will discuss each of these separately.

Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates (carbs) are four calories per gram. Most carbs reside in fruits, vegetables, grains, and sugars. Even though carbs are usually associated with the devil in modern culture, every living human requires carbs to survive.

Even though they are necessary for survival, they are not ideal for survival food. Carbs pack fewer calories per gram than fats (discussed below) and are not as useful for rebuilding muscle as protein. Carbs are also burned more quickly than fats or proteins, meaning that you will be left feeling hungry not long after eating.

Proteins: Proteins contain four calories per gram and are the food of choice for competition weightlifters and world class performers. Proteins are useful for rebuilding muscles bigger and stronger.

Proteins burn slowly in the stomach and after eating them, you’ll feel full for a long time. Most proteins are meats, nuts, or legumes. These make for excellent stored food.

Fats: Fats contain nine calories per gram and are our go to foods for our food storage. Since fats contain a lot of calories per gram, you can eat less and survive longer than others (and it’s easier on your budget!)

Fats are usually found in meats, oils, dairy products, eggs, and nuts. If you’ll notice, foods that have fat and foods that have proteins are very similar. These are the kinds of foods we want to store.

By storing foods that are high in protein and fat, we ensure that our bodies have what it takes to rebuild themselves after labor, we don’t feel hungry after eating, and can consume enough calories to give us a boost of energy during the day.

The best kinds of foods to store are not high calorie sugary treats, but foods that combine proteins and fats into one easy package.

Foods like nuts, dried dairy products, canned meats, dried beans and lentils, and canned chili make for excellent survival foods.

While preparing your survival foods, don’t feel obligated to only get these types of foods though! I have plenty of space to store my food and over time I’ve accumulated some cereals, granola, soups, and dried noodles that I could consider a treat in a survival situation.

Finally, the best types of stored food for you are the ones that you can comfortably fit into your budget. You shouldn’t feel obligated to spend your entire paycheck on food storage. Instead, buy food in small bits and pieces if you need to.

Over time, you’ll collect plenty of life-giving food.


To close us out, here are a list of foods that I myself store:
  1. Canned chiliVarious types of 
  2. canned meats​Dried beans (I keep these in empty liters of Coke)
  3. Dried lentils (same)
  4. Dried peas (mostly black-eyed, ditto for the empty liters)
  5. Canned vegetables
  6. Canned meats
  7. Different types of noodles such as spaghetti, ramen, etc.
  8. Rice
  9. Powdered foods
  10. Long lasting proteins such as certain protein bars, protein mix, etc.

Author Tag:
Founder and editor of PrepSurvivalGuide.com. I'm a proud husband and father of two boys. My journey to preparedness began in the aftermath of the housing crash when I saw just how easily the scales could be tipped against us. Since then, I've wanted to share high quality information at no cost. Enjoy.

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Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Smoked Brisket Recipe


Smoking and preserving meat is an essential skill for long term survival.  It is free to learn and delicious to practice.  Here is a recipe worth trying:

Ingredients
  • 1 12-14 pound whole packer brisket 
  • 2 Tablespoons coarse Kosher salt 
  • 2 Tablespoons coarse ground black pepper 
  • 2 Tablespoons garlic powder 
Instructions
  1. Store your brisket in the refrigerator until you are ready to start trimming. Cold briskets are much easier to work with. Flip your brisket over so the point end is underneath. Remove any silver skin or excess fat from the flat muscle. Trim down the large crescent moon shaped fat section until it is a smooth transition between the point and the flat. Trim and excessive or loose meat and fat from the point. Square the edges and ends of the flat. Flip the brisket over and trim the top fat cap to about 1/4 of an inch thickness across the surface of the brisket.
  2. In a mixing bowl or empty spice container, mix the salt, pepper, and garlic. Share over the brisket to evenly distribute the spices on all sides.
  3. Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees F using indirect heat and hardwood smoke. Place the brisket on the smoker with the point end facing your main heat source. This is a thicker part of the brisket and it can handle the additional heat. Close the lid and smoke until and internal thermometer reads 165 degrees F (usually takes around 8 hours).
  4. On a large work surface, roll out a big piece of butcher paper (or foil) and center your brisket in the middle. Wrap the brisket by folding edge over edge, creating a leak proof seal all the way around. Return the wrapped brisket to the smoker, seam side down so the weight from the brisket crimps the edges of the paper wrap down tight.
  5. Close the lid on the smoker and, maintaining 225 degrees F, continue cooking until the internal temperature of the brisket reaches 202 degrees F in the thickest part of the meat (takes anywhere from 5-8 hours).
  6. Remove the brisket to a large cutting board and allow to rest for 1 hour before slicing. Slice both the point and the flat against the grain with a sharp knife and serve immediately.
For more recipes, visit  www.heygrillhey.com OR for the original source of this recipe visit:
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Monday, April 9, 2018

AR Optics

The price of a Top AR can be low compared to what you can spend on a scope or sight.  For this reason, it is important that you make informed choices.  There are a large number of low cost options, too many to properly test, so our focus here will be on products with established reputations for Quality.

IRMK3-60


Like the many different types of Firearms, there are may different optics for different needs. A long range scope is not good for Close Quarters Combat (CQC). Products suitable for Night Vision may not work in daylight. While there is no one best product, some combinations work well together.

  1. Trijicon ACOG Scope - This is a popular civilian version of a scope that the US Military uses. It has a optic tube that captures light and illuminates the reticle, with out the need for batteries.  It also has a holographic  Reflex sight for CQC.  This is a good combination optic for day and low light use.
  2. Aimpoint Red Dot Sight - A CQC sight with an amazing battery life (years) and is Night Vision compatible, providing you have a night vision monocle.  This low power system is a good Prepper choice along with some Rechargable batteries for a SHTF scenario.
  3. Laser - A laser sight is a good addition to any firearm for the fastest target acquisition, even when shooting from the hip. Unfortunately, most of them are cheap and will not stay on target. The DBAL-A3, another quality US Military product, has IR and Visible laser beams.
  4. Holographic - The EO Tech is another US Military choice for CQC and the model 552 is Night Vision compatible.  There is a magnifier available that extends the range beyond 100 yards.
  5. Thermal Scope - This is the ultimate day & night scope performance wise and cost wise.  It also takes a lot of batteries.  Rechargable batteries and Solar Power to charge them would be necessary in a SHTF or EMP situation.
  6. Night Vision -  Any NV is better than nothing at all, but a Generation III is the best.
  7. Iron Battle Sights - Last but not least, these are simple, affordable, reliable and never have the batteries go dead.  For this reason, every AR should have a set of these available, at least as a back up.  If you want to use them as an installed backup, then consider the 45 degree offset AR sight design.  The flip up sights are the most popular but may be slightly less accurate. This would be my first purchase.
A31F-RMR: Trijicon ACOG 4x32 Scope

Aimpoint Micro T-1 2 MOA


DBAL-A3 Laser sight





EO Tech 552



Over time, you can spend more buying different budget optics, so I recommend getting good ones from the beginning.  If I was only going to have one Optic after the Battle sight, my second purchase would be the IRMK3-60, followed by a laser.  The down side for an illuminated scope with a screen is that it illuminates and highlights your face.

If I couldn't afford the Thermal Scope, I'd probably go with the ACOG or Aimpoint and a hand held Thermal Monocular.

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