Improve your health and fitness

By Tim Gamble

Being sick doesn't just feel bad, it is expensive! In our emerging Dystopian World, healthcare will only get more expensive, more rationed, and more intrusive to our private lives. The technocrats plan to use healthcare to control the general population. Don't forget, the Left wanted to use Obamacare to force doctors to ask about and report on the presence of guns in their patients homes. More recently, we have seen the Left push vaccine mandates, even to the point they are willing to deny life-saving healthcare to the unvaccinated. Vaccine passports, not only for travel but even to enter your local stores and other businesses, still loom as a possibility as many on the Left have not given up on the idea. And it won't just be Covid-19 vaccines that will be required, but many others, too. Expect even more of this healthcare tyranny from the Left in the future. 

A top priority for you and your family should be improving and maintaining your good health and fitness. The less you need the healthcare system, the better off you will be. This should be one of your top priorities as you prepare for the future. 

You probably already know the basics of what you should be doing: Stop smoking and abusing drugs or alcohol. Get adequate sleep on a consistent basis. Eat healthy. Eat less sugar (a lot less!). Build your strength & endurance. Be physically active every day (walking, hiking, gardening, yardwork, biking, swimming, tennis, yoga, and exercise videos are just a few ideas). Take care of any issues with your health, teeth or vision, sooner rather than later. 

My number one tip to improve your health and fitness is to Find external motivation. Don't try to improve your health and fitness for yourself. It is easy to make and accept excuses when its only about you. Make your motivation external instead - for your wife, your husband, your kids, your grandkids, or whoever. 

For example: Instead of quitting smoking so you can live longer, make it "I'm quitting smoking so I can live long enough to see my grandkids graduate college."  Instead of getting fit so you'll feel better and have more energy, make it "I'm getting fit so I can better protect my wife and kids." It is harder to make excuses when you are doing it for your loved ones. 

Other health and fitness articles of interest:

• The Unhealthy Modern Lifestyle
• Ways to Imprve Your Health and Fitness for Free!
• Achieving Menos - A Goal For All Preppers
• Six Hacks to Supercharge Your Health and Healing
• Fitness and the Aging Prepper
• Mobility, Movement, and the Prepper
• Book Review: Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal

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The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

The following selection is from the reference materials found in The American Patriot's Bible (page 16):

The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants...  Genesis 14:14 (NKJV)

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Having fled persecution in Great Britain, the Puritans had laws requiring every family to own a gun, to carry it in public places, and to train children in the use of firearms. In 1619, the colony of Virginia had statutes that required everyone to bear arms. Connecticut law in 1650 required every man above the age of sixteen to possess "a good musket or other gun, fit for service." 

The early laws of America are very clear about this. The people were responsible for their own defense and freedoms and needed to be prepared to fight. Thomas Jefferson said, "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." At that time, there was no concept of a professional army, created and paid to defend the colonies. George Mason, called the Father of the Bill of Rights, said, "What is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."

With the approach of the American Revolution, the natural rights philosophers had established the foundation for self defense. Every man's life, they said, belongs to God, and to allow one's life to be taken because one failed to defend it was wrong. This natural law to the right of self-defense was also applied to the duty to protect one's family, community, and national liberties. For the colonists, at the heart of their religion was liberty, a sacred gift from God. 

For the most part, the colonial churches, particularly New England's Congregational congregations, believed that to revolt against tyrants, such as King George, was to obey God. It may have had its roots in the Old Testament accounts of Israel's wars for freedom, but it became a powerful fire that impassioned the citizenry. And remains a belief that continues to influence Americans' views about the right to bear arms today. 

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The American Patriot's Bible is available on Amazon.

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Prepping On The Cheap - A Money-Saving Food Tip

By Tim Gamble

Dehydrated and freeze-dried "survival" foods and MREs get a lot of publicity within the preparedness community because they are designed to last decades. However, they are very expensive when compared to "regular" foods, are often out-of-stock, and you have a limited selection from which to choose. The good news is that you don't actually need most of these expensive foods for survival.

Canned foods, dry beans and rice, oatmeal, and other regular store-sought items can last for many years, even far past their so-called "expiration" dates when properly stored. And these regular foods are much less expensive than the long-term survival foods. So, today's money-saving tip for prepping on the cheap is Don't waste your money on most long-term survival foods. Instead, stock up as much as possible on regular foods that will last many years, such as canned foods, beans, rice, and oatmeal, among others.   

An exception to this tip are perishable items, such as milk, cheese, butter, and eggs, which  are problematic for true long-term storage. Your best bet if you can't produce these yourself is powdered, dehydrated or freeze-dried products intended for true long-term storage (10 years or longer). For my money, Augason Farms has the best selection, excellent quality, and are reasonably priced compared to other long-tern food options (I am not an affiliate of Augason Farms, just a very satisfied customer).

These two articles may provide additional insights:

• Surprising Facts About Expiration Dates / When Food Actually Goes Bad
• Food Storage: How Long Does It Last?

Here is the first article in the Prepping On The Cheap series:

• Prepping On The Cheap - Salvage Stores

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Advice From Beyond The Grave: The Barton Biggs Survival Plan

By Tim Gamble 

Before his death in 2012, hedge fund manager Barton Biggs - who correctly called the dot-com bubble and crash - began warning his high-wealth clients of a coming "breakdown of the civilized infrastructure," and advising them on how to survive it. I believe we are seeing his prediction come true before our eyes. I think his advise is worth considering in detail, which I do below.

The Intentional Collapse of Civilization

We are currently experiencing the intentional collapse of civilization - supply chain problems, food production problems, the break-down of borders, energy woes, economic woes, massive debt, loss of freedoms, medical tyranny, small businesses being destroyed, parents being told their kids education is none of their business... The list of problems goes on and on. 

The United States now even has an official "Disinformation Governance Board" (sounds like something out of NAZI Germany), working hand-in-hand with the self-appointed Thought Police of Big Tech.

Civilization as we have known it is being intentionally murdered and replaced with a new technocratic surveillance-and-control system in which people are owned by the State, which, in turn, is owned by huge corporations and the ultra-wealthy. (See my article Technocracy, The Power Elite, and the Transformation of Human Civilization, and the article What Is the Great Reset? by Michael Rectenwald, for more on these concepts.) 

Unless you are a member of the ultra-wealthy Elite, and most of us are not, this transformation isn't going to be good for you. So, what do we do? How do we prepare for what is coming? How do we protect ourselves and our families? How do we survive?

Advice From Beyond The Grave

Barton Biggs is dead. But we know a good deal about the advice he was giving to his ultra-wealthy clients before he died. Examining his advise may give us some ideas of how we, even without the massive wealth of his clients, can prepare for what is coming.

Barton Biggs' advice in a nutshell: Make tons of money. Put that money into physical goods. Buy an isolated farm in the mountains. Protect your family against the barbarians.

"Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food... It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson." -- Barton Biggs

This advice sounds like what some hard-core preppers and survivalists have been saying. Just realize that this isn't advice from some survivalist guru to militia types. Instead, this is advice from a highly respected hedge fund manager and financial insider to his ultra-wealthy clients. 

The Barton Biggs Survival Plan

Here are the main points of Barton Biggs' Survival Plan, along with my commentary:

1- Make tons of money. Biggs first bit of advice to his wealthy clients was to make tons of money now, while the system is still mostly intact. The ultra-wealthy Elites are certainly doing that. Realizing that an economic collapse is inevitable (only the timing is uncertain), they are making as much money as they can right now, often using short term tactics (creating a frothy stock market and multiple other bubbles and collapses in the process) and reinvesting that money into hard assets such as productive land, gold, silver, agricultural and other commodities, as a protection against future collapse.

There are two ways to look at this: 1) the ultra-wealthy Elite are selfish, greedy scumbags who are trying to take advantage of a dire situation to their benefit; or 2) the wealthy elite see what is coming, realize there is nothing that can be done at this point to prevent it, and are simply doing whatever it takes to protect themselves and their families and friends. Greedy, honorable or both - you decide.

So, what is the average Joe and Jane supposed to do with this part of Biggs' advice? Make as much money as you can right now, while you still can, turning that short term cash into the things you and your family will need to survive the coming economic chaos. Buy land. Stockpile food, water, medicine, clothes and other supplies. Learn useful skills of self-sufficiency. 

2- Turn your money into physical goods. The value of the US Dollar (and all fiat currency) is an illusion. And that illusion is collapsing rapidly. Inflation is officially recognized by the government to be 8.6%. The government is lying. John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics (http://www.shadowstats.com/) puts the real inflation rate at 16.8%  - almost double what the government is admitting. 

ShadowStats CPI Chart as of June 10, 2022 - reprinted with permission.

Your money is rapidly losing value. And there is no reason to believe it will stop losing value anytime soon. In fact, most indicators point to inflation continuing, and even escalating, for the rest of this year and even all of next year. The idea that prices "will go back down soon" is based solely on wishful thinking. 

Biggs' solution is to not hold large amounts of cash. Instead, Biggs told his wealthy clients to turn their excess cash into productive land, food and the means to produce more food, medicine, clothes, and other useful physical goods. 

I would suggest the same strategy for the average Joe and Jane. In fact, stockpiling food, water, cleaning & hygiene supplies, first aid supplies, medicine & medical supplies, flashlights, radios, batteries, tools, guns & ammo, sturdy clothes & shoes, and so forth is already a very popular prepper strategy. 

Remember, we do need some cash on hand to pay our bills, and an emergency fund is always a good idea (how much is an individual choices and depends on your own concerns and circumstances). But holding large amounts of extra cash in the bank or stock market makes little sense given current realities. Turn your dying cash into durable and useful goods while you still can. 

3- Buy an isolated farm in the mountains.  Biggs was driving at two things with this piece of advice: 1) the need for long term self-sufficiency, and 2) escaping the dangers of the civil unrest, crime, and violence that will dramatically increase as civilization collapses. Both are extremely valid reasons to leave the big cities and built-up urban areas before things get really bad.

It doesn't literally have to be an "isolated farm in the mountains," although for some that may be a good option. There are many small towns and rural counties away from the big cities that might make a great refuge to ride out the chaos and turmoil of the next few years. I would suggest living at least an hour's drive away from any city with a population of 100,000 or more, and to avoid coastal areas and deep-blue (leftist controlled) states. But where to live is a topic for its own article.

The average Joe and Jane should make an honest assessment of their current living circumstances, and then make plans based on that assessment. Is where you are living now relatively safe? Is it likely to remain relatively safe during the chaos of a economic and/or political collapse? Does it afford you opportunities for self-reliance? Are you near military targets if war comes? 

4- Protect your family against the barbarians. Biggs recognized that the future was going to be extremely chaotic. Economic and political collapse would be accompanied by massive increases in civil unrest, crime, and violence. Government won't be able (or willing, frankly) to protect you. YOU are now in charge of your own safety and security, and that of your family and friends. This means taking personal responsibility, building self-reliance and self-sufficiency, physically separating from dangers (come out of her my people), and building a community you can trust.  

One of the most difficult realizations for the average Joe and Jane to make is that the government is NOT going to swoop in and save the day. The calvary is NOT on the way. In fact, the government is intentionally making things worse (no border enforcement, no bail requirements for criminals, defunding the police, the politics of division, etc.). The government has become the enemy of the common people. The government cannot be trusted. 

Realize this fact. Accept it. Decide how to react to it. And take action. Build resilience and self-reliance. Don't wait around for things to get better (they won't), or for government or someone else to save the day (help is not on the way). 

Remember what I have long said:  The single most important thing you can do now to survive any future chaos is to start taking responsibility for your own life now.

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Prepping On The Cheap - Salvage Stores

By Tim Gamble

Just like most of you, I am not independently wealthy. And with the high inflation we are experiencing, it gets harder every day to stock up on food and other supplies. Finding ways to prepare on the cheap is important. One of my favorite "cheap prepping" tricks is the salvage store! 

Salvage stores specialize in selling off the excess inventory of manufacturers and the unsold stock of large retailers, typically as much as 40% to 60% off regular store prices. Items sold are new and undamaged, and are exactly the same that you could buy at Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, and other "regular" stores. Some salvage stores specialize in food, and many others also sell general merchandise. 

I am a weekly visitor to a salvage store near my house, where I have found fantastic buys over the last several years. Examples of what I have actually bought there include canned foods, salsa, herbal teas, vitamins, aspirin, shampoo, mouthwash, cleaning supplies, candles, lamp oil, socks, t-shirts, and other clothing, garden tools, hand tools, and hardware, among other things. It is one of my favorite places to shop, and it is a lot cheaper than even the big box stores. 

A quick online search for "salvage stores near me" should point you those salvage stores in your area. 

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Crime On The Rise - Here's The Proof

By Tim Gamble

A local county park near me now has large, colorful Crime Alert signs posted in highly visible spots, warning people of increased crime in the formerly safe and family-friendly park. This park isn't in a big city, but rather in a mostly rural county of small towns and farms. 

Emblazoned across the top of the signs in red is "CRIME ALERT". The signs go on to tell people to "Park It. Lock It. Keep It." in large yellow letters, and remind people to "Lock your car doors & remove all valuables." Finally the sign reminds people to call 911 if they see anything suspicious or fall victim to a crime themselves. 

The reason for the signs is that crime has sky-rocketed at this park over the last year, with cars being vandalized, broken into, and items being stolen, even during peak hours (the thieves have become very brazen). Police have also become concerned about drug dealers selling pot and even meth at the park. However, the county police force is understaffed and they are unable to add extra patrols to the park at this time. So, the solution to the rising crime is to put up warning signs. That will protect you and your family, I'm sure. 

Again, this is a mostly rural county at a very nice park that previously has been quite safe and family-friendly. We are not talking a park in Atlanta or Detroit or some other big city. Crime is on the rise everywhere, even small towns and rural counties. And the sad fact is that Law Enforcement in many (most?) areas is understaffed, underfunded, and demoralized. You are going to have to be in charge of protecting yourself and your family.

See Also: Some Thoughts on Self-Defense (article I wrote in 2018). 

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The shelves are full! Prices are coming back down! -- NOT!!!

By Tim Gamble

The store shelves are full! Prices are coming back down! The supply chain crisis is over! And, really, it was never as bad as some people claimed....

At least that was the point being made by one middle-aged white guy in a You Tube video he posted a couple of weeks ago. He even showed some video of shelves at his local big-box store to "prove" his claims. Yes, the shelves he showed had merchandise on them. However, he obviously was being selective about which shelves he showed in his video. All he really proved was that he is in a serious state of denial.

 I don't know the guy's name and had never seen his video channel before, but he seemed like an ordinary blue jeans and t-shirt guy. He even had the scraggly beard like so many of us ordinary middle-aged guys have these days. The point of his video seemed to be to encourage folks to "not waste their money" preparing for a crisis that is basically over, and to not "fall for the doom-and-gloom" being spread by some. 

Sadly, many people seem to be in a similar state of denial. Several of the homesteading and preparedness channels I watch have talked about a sharp increase in the number of negative comments they get on videos in recent weeks. Some folks aren't just trying to deny that things are getting worse - therefore to deny the need to prepare - but are getting downright angry and hateful in how they are doing so. A few have even started making violent threats against those of us warning others to prepare for what is coming. 

It is one thing to disagree with someone. We are all entitled to our own opinion. But is is something else altogether to disagree with such anger and vitriol that you make threats of physical harm towards those you disagree with, and towards their families. What is going on?

I think the answer is fear and desperation. These people know what is going on even if they won't admit it. They can see the prices they pay at the store and at the pump. They see the gaps in store shelves and know that many items becoming harder and harder to get. They hear the growing number of people warning about what is coming. It is no longer just the prepper kooks and right-wing nutjobs saying these things, but also many government officials, business leaders, and other "experts" now sounding the warning bells. 

Deep down these people in denial know the truth. And they know they haven't prepared. And they know it is almost too late. And they don't know what to do. So they are scared, and they are lashing out at others. But denial always loses out to the facts. Denial will not stop what is coming. Denial will not help anyone survive. 

You know what is going on in the world. You can see and think for yourself.  Tune out the deniers and keep preparing. 

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