Notes From The Bunker

Notes From The Bunker

“Trust me” is not enough

I am at a loss to explain why so many people in the blogosphere seem to think we dodged a bullet. We didn’t dodge a bullet, we just got a different finger on the trigger.

Yes, Trump did say that he supports the Second Amendment (whatever that means), but he kinda has a history of saying and doing whatever needed saying/doing to achieve his desired result. There are pictures of him smiling happily with the Clintons, and there are quotes of him glowing about Hillary. Clearly, he ‘goes along to get along’ at times.

trump_clintons

How many people in this picture are you certain about in regard to their dedication to your gun rights? The correct answer is: Two. The one on the left is unproven, the two on the right are proven in their lack of dedication.

My point is, you don’t know with any certainty what he’ll do. When some Prozac warrior shoots up a schoolbus and Feinstein/Schumer are dancing in the blood as they work on their ‘commonsense, reasonable’ legislation can you really say with 100% certainty “Ahhh, he won’t sign that!”?

Look, I hope like hell that Trump has a pro-gun position on things and sticks with it. But I don’t know that. And I (and you) won‘t know that until it’s put to the test. So for that reason, I think anyone who thinks “Oh, I’ve got plenty of time to gear up now that the election is over” is taking a big risk and being foolishly short-sighted.

Generator day

Evernote tells me that I’ve been a bad survivalist – I haven’t run the EU2000 since June. June!! Well, I have had a lot on my mind. Anyway, I needed to run the generator for a while, run it under load, and I needed to get the leaves blown out. So…..

20161109_151353Let’s kill two birds with one stone.

Took about five pulls for the EU2000 to start up, but then it ran like a champ. Moved the leaves around for about a half hour and called it good. Note to self – once a month, stupid!

Some of you may wonder why the electric leaf blower rather than gas. Honestly, it’s one less engine for me to have issues with later. Plus, in this case it was a great way to run the generator under load. For those who are curious, that’s a run/hours meter on the case of the EU2000. I also keep a copy of the startup/shutdown directions fastened to the generator.

So…genny works and is ready for whatever comes. One less thing to deal with.

The general consensus of the survivalist community is that the EU2000 and the rest of the EU series from Honda are the go-to choice for small quiet generators. Indeed, I would say that whenever I read posts about people using their generators in an emergency, 90% of the time the generator they are using is the Honda. Highly recommend.

Aftermath

Okay, so now that the hangover from drinking all those liberal tears has worn off, what’s the speculation on the future? Well, anything I say is clearly not worth the electrons and photons it’s printed on … I adamantly thought Hillary would win. In fact, I put money on it in the form of several hundred standard-capacity magazines. But, take it with a grain of salt..

Obama has two months to throw out a slew of spiteful executive orders and pardons to throw gravel under Trump’s wheels. Not only is he a man with nothing to lose at this point, he’s a man with nothing to lose AND an axe to grind.

Trump himself is impossible to pin down. There’s photos of him out there gladhanding with Clintons and saying warm things about Hillary. Clearly, Trump is enough of a player that he says what he needs to at that moment to get what he wants. That means, really, we can’t say with any certainty what his position on guns is.

And the Republicans….they were willing to throw Trump under the bus and dance on his grave. Now…well…Paul Ryan was on TV with a mouthful of crow. I think they realized that for all intents and purposes, T. was a third-party candidate. They’ve either gotta get on his coattails now and at least look like theyre playing ball or they risk angering his very motivated base. Could it be enough to turn the Republican party back to the right? We shall see.

I really do think the big surprise in the election came from something we all thought about but didn’t think would happen – people who were going to vote for Trump kept it to themselves. Thats why the polls were wrong.

Anyway, as a paranoid right-wing anti-government survivalist, I’d say: change nothing. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Don’t let your guard down and think the threat has passed because of who won the election. We know our enemy didn’t get elected, but we don’t have enough to go on to know that the person who did win is our friend.

Article – Mike Dillon passes

Mike DIllon, of Dillon Precision fame, has died. I am an unabashed user of his products and recommend them without hesitation. I also cannot say enough about their world-class customer service. As a survivalist, being able to reload my own ammo efficiently and accurately is a pretty big deal, and the Dillon 550 and RL1050 have been my go-to for quantity reloading for almost 30 years. I hope his company keeps up the good work he started now that he’s gone.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Mike Dillon. Mike left us on the morning of November 7th, 2016. He leaves behind a large family including wife Carol, sons Stephen and Christopher, daughter Stephanie, and 9 grandchildren. Mike’s legacy has touched the lives of countless people worldwide. He revolutionized the ammunition reloading industry and made it what it is today. Mike also redesigned and manufactured the M134 Minigun that is now in service in the United States and foreign military forces. As a passionate aviator, he worked for TWA as a 2nd officer for 13 years and later made a name for himself as a writer for Air Progress Magazine. He is recognized by some as being the one who started the warbird restoration movement in the 1960’s.

Mike’s dedication to his family, his customers, and this country was exemplary. We hope to continue the legacy that Mike Dillon worked so hard to build and we will never forget the impact that he has had on us all. We take comfort knowing he is flying in the blue skies of heaven above.

 

The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote

tumblr_ogc0noai251urmckio2_400Vote early, vote often.

‘Tis Election Day. This time the choices are…well…not great. Watching this election season has been like watching two people locked in a cargo container dueling with hand grenades.

To me, this is sorta like changing captains after the iceberg has already hit. The outcome is a foregone conclusion, now it’s just a matter of the route and driver that gets us there.

Here’s my most profound thought for the day: it’s too late to effect any real substantial change that will sway the course to Very Bad Things we are currently on. What you can do, though, is get your ducks in a row and prepare so that the damage is mitigated as best you can. In other words, it’s too late to keep the the ship from sinking, but you still have time to find the lifeboats.

I’m heading to the polls in a few minutes (because I will always vote), but I’ll leave you with this dandy: Didja hear the one about the Democrat in Illinois who said that when he died he wanted to be buried in Chicago so he could remain active in the party?

 

ETA: 20161108_103318When people ask who I vote for, I tell them “The person who won’t raise my taxes, screw with my guns, or hamstring small business”. If they say, “You voted for Trump?!” I reply with, “So you’re saying Hillary will raise my taxes, screw with my guns and hamstring small business?”

Article – Janet Reno, former U.S. attorney general, dies at 78

Hmmm…Janet Reno dies the day before the election. Makes you wonder what she knew about Clinton.

Could not have happened to a nicer guy.

Janet Reno, the strong-minded Florida prosecutor tapped by Bill Clinton to become the country’s first female U.S. attorney general, and who shaped the U.S. government’s responses to the largest legal crises of the 1990s, died Nov. 7 at her home in Miami. She was 78.

The cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease, her goddaughter, Gabrielle D’Alemberte, told the Associated Press. Ms. Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1995, while she was attorney general.

For you youngsters, she’s the guy who brought you such momentous moments as these:

elian-gonzalez waco_fire_wide-9203577b23bd582c55a3ac54d95e03ced5cd9573-s6-c30Say hi to Hitler and Ted Bundy while you’re down there, Janet.

Article – Election Chaos Fears Have Preppers Stockpiling Survival Food

Meh..I don’t fear elections, I fear the results.

In case of an election night Doomsday, preppers are running up sales of emergency survival food.

While sales for “long term food” typically see an increase around natural disasters and elections, “this is more intense than what we saw in 2012,” said Keith Bansemer, VP of marketing for My Patriot Supply, a manufacturer and seller of survival food. During the previous election his company saw sales double. This time it’s triple.

“We have everyone we can on the phones,” he said. “We are overwhelmed.”

To be honest, I know far, far more people stockpiling guns, mags, and ammo in advance of this election than I do people stocking food against it.