Free Republic

Its too bad that so many of you hate the Pope without even understanding what he’s saying. I knew Mario Bergoglio well before becoming Pope and he was the only voice of the people when the Kirchenrs where killing us all.
In Spanish or Italian,and when used in the context of attitude rather than biologicla sense, Macho = Macho bravado BS = Misogyny, which does not = manlyness.
While macho literally translated from Spanish or Italian means “male”, when used as an attitude its not positive and it can literally mean hard headed fool in some definitions depending on its use. Its ironic how when the pope says not to be “macho” everyone gets pissed, but if he says he’d punch someone that insulted his mother... that also gets people mad!
This is the same man that said “who am I to judge” about gays and its still the same man that was ahead of the marches to stop homosexuals from “marrying” and most of all, what Francis was worried the most about from a social context perspective, that homosexuals would adopt childen, taking away their right to a mother and a father. Francis has said this many times, but of course the media likes to pick, cut and paste the bits to fit its agenda.
He invited Crisitna Kircher and treated her with a respect she does not deserve, a woman that publicly insulted him many times, yet he chose to be the bigger man.
I hope he sticks around and gets to fix the Church. To anyone that cares: No, he’s not the person that the liberal media tries to show you.
FerFAL

Hi, just wanted to say that you can own firearms here in Argentina. Check RENAR website.
Its a bit more complicated, almost impossible actually now, to get detachable mag fed centerfire rifles, but you can own pistols, shotguns, bolt and lever action rifles relatively easily.
Take care folks,
FerFAL

Thanks! With a lot of help from my friends, as the Beatles used to say! ;-)

FerFAL

Excellent essay Matt, thanks for sharing.
Here’s a youtube clip I did, on 2A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5E_TnEerA&feature=player_embedded
While today you have to consider the legal consequences of arming another person, specially in Argentina where only people with gun permits can handle guns and you are legally responsible for what gets done with your weapon, the ability to arm others shouldn’t be underestimated.
I once mentioned that I gave my brother a 38 Special snub nose revolver just a couple hours after he landed in Argentina.
My brother doesn’t know how to perform a tactical reload, he doesn’t know what SUL means or the best way to resolve corners, but I trust him enough not to shoot anything that doesn’t need to be shot. That’s enough in most cases where you end up arming others.
If the situation is bad enough, there no help coming. You have to ask yourself, how long can I stay alert before falling asleep, how long can I stand guard? With some basic instruction you can have a few people doing shifts after some basic instructions, mostly about gun safety handling and when NOT to shoot. Later on if the situation goes on you can teach them more but none of this would even be possible if you don’t have the minimum tools. That is, a few extra guns, ammo and holsters.
I have a couple extra 38 special revolvers for this reason. Also a couple more Hi Power 9mms and 45 ACP pistols. I have 5 or 6 extra police surplus leather flap holsters. These come with the cross chest sling needed to carry it. You can simply tote it like that. A belt would add extra stability but you can do without it, and the holster itself has an extra magazine pouch. Space for two mags for the 45 ACP. Not the latest tactical piece of gear, not even the best or the most practical, but its perfect for a grunt newbie and it cost less than 3 dollars each.
As of right now, there are some towns and districts in Argentina were the neighbors themselves run patrols and stand guard at night, armed. Legal? No it isn’t but it’s the unwritten agreement they made with authorities that simply can’t protect the people. Saw it on the news a couple days ago.
Chile is another good example. People organized and look after each other. There was a man that explained the problem he had, not having anyone nearby to stand guard when he fell asleep.
The chances of this happening may not seem that big, but it does happen and there’s many scenarios where you may need armed neighbors. Recent, real world scenarios.
These are things that can be taken into account when adding more weapons to your collection.

FerFAL

No way, not at all. WE have NO amred forces as of right now.
We are in a much worse shape than during the last war.
Our armed forces have been dismanteled, blamed for everything that was ever wrong in the country, and publicly humiliated by the Ks, time and again. Who’s going to fight that war?
Cristina K scaring the brit troops with her face full of botox?
Well... that might kill more than a few you know...

FerFAL

Does look similar. Actually its the exact same; middle class protesting, painitng the front of the banks and such.
Same happened with Iceland and its a pretty typical financial collapse patern. The consequences are many and long term, its not only the lost trust in the institutions, socially speaking its an enitre generation that will have it on thier backs.

FerFAL

Argentina’s greatest problem is Argentines, no doubt.
Unfortunately we need our own Pinochet or our own Franco before we become a first world country. It will take several decades, and lots of blood as well.
This country wont change without a civil war unfortunately.
FerFAL

The Roach Belly is particularly nice as a small, up and personal knife, cheap too!

FerFAL

Yes, good observation. Too bad, its a nice knife :-)

FerFAL

Nice pics Travis!

Sorry for not seeing this before, I’m just now starting to understand how the Freerepublic forum works.

Too bad it got discontinued, I’ll try snatching an extra one out of Ebay.

FerFAL

I got to know Nick form bulletfroofme.com when I bought my first BA many years ago. He was the only guy that bothered helping a guy in South America with a used BA vest.
After Argentine taxes and shipping the used BA vest cost x3 times what you lucky guys would have to pay.
Many years later I started my blog, Nick heard of me, and well, he ended up placing an ad in my blog. Happy to do so since he’s a person i can highly recommend.

As I mentioned in a post in my blog today, there’s no 2A protecting your right to own BA, and its silly to expect to fire hundreds of rounds in self defense and never get shot.
Body Armor is banned or heavily regulated in most countries, even worse than guns, so America is today an odd creature regarding BA ownership.

Not for carrying on daily basis, at least not today, but I do wear it when I know I’m going into more risky grounds ( for whatever reason) and can’t help it, or when sometihng goes bump in the night

For those than for some reason can’t get armor, its not that difficult to make your own plates with high resistance resin. Still experimenting with this but 2” thick plates will stop most handgun rounds. Resin for boats is supposed to be one of the best. Any advice here Travis?

FerFAL

Its creepy that Obama wants to copy such a model.
Elections guys, remember all this junk next time you have to vote!

FerFAL

Hi guys, just google “Obama Peron”
The guy is following the right steps... into becoming a benevolent dictator.

Check out this article:Obama as Peron
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/012791.html

FerFAL

Travis, terrific story on that part you needed made and its true. Enough bucks will get you out of most problems and its usually not that much :-)
There’s a small town up north in the province of Salta here in Argentina, they have an old vapor train working in good conditions. They actually manage to make all the spare parts they need on their own shop. As you say, necessity is the mother of invention.
Many many years ago, when I was a little kid and we lived in Boston, my dad would pick perfectly good bikes that were being thown away to fix them, they maybe needed another chain, or just had a flat tire. We couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t that we needed it or anything. My father was a high executive of Bank Boston and we sure didn’t need the money. It just didn’t compute in his brain that people threw away things that actually worked.
Cars here cost a lot of money, so of course, most of the things you guys thorw away here are perefcetly good (and running ) cars. We really don’t have anything like car compactors, everything gets fixed and kept running.
You’re also right about people adapting. Its easy to say, that no it wont happen, that we world will end instead. Sounds much more spectacular. Reality is less amazing and more mundane. People will scrounge more, learn to fix stuff more, and do whatever they can to get by better, even if a lot of the old middle class ends up poor.
3rd world people aren’t anything special, we don’t come form another planet, its just that you figure out ways of getting by because you don’t have much of a choice.
I suppose that if for us, throwing away a refirgierator instead of fixing it made no difference financially speaking we would all do that. But since a fiidge costs a bit more than the average monthly salary, people find a way, find someone to fix it or fix it themselves.
Computer as well, old computers keep on getting repaired and upgraded any way they can. Every buck counts.
I read once about a women during the siege of Sarajevo, every day when going to work, she ran across a street with heavy sniper activity, risking getting shot to go to work. “But you don’t Work when SHTF!” Yes man, you do! :-)
Even if you already live isoltated before SHTF, the more isolated you are in a high crime environment, let alone heavy gang or ethnical prosecution, the more likely you are to get hit harder. The Rohedesian farmers come to mind.
Travis, during the Spanish civil war my grandfather bribed his way out of service under Franco. A couple hams, and mostly, lots of cash to gets his “papers” in order. Same thing for moving to Argentina. Back then you needed a family member already in Argentina claim you and pay for you. If not, guess what happened? You where sent to work in the fields in the provinces. Everyone wanted to stay in Buenos Aires city where salaries were much better.
My grandfather was a good carpenter and worked making a luxury item: Pool tables. He was also good at business and soon had his own carpentry that occupied half a block. With the money they didn’t buy a retreat and several acres, (even tohugh they were both farmers back in Spain) with the extra money my grandma started a very succeful bakery. Later they closed because of a series of armed robberies. The bough a few apartments, also lost a lot of money they had in the bank during Martínez de Hoz in 78. The lesson my grandma always tells me is that the only this that was always safe where their real estate investments, both here in Argentina and during the civil war in Spain. Land and bricks. Money in the bank mostly belongs to the bank, not you.

FerFAL

Hi everyone. Thanks a lot Travis ;-)

I dont disagree with stocking up on essential (TP, food, tools, etc) what I do disagree with is stocking up on these expecting them to become some sort of currency or make you any significant money after SHTF. Whatever it is you do its, better to save that money in precious metals.
I have many tools, also drills, grinders, and others, I know how to use them of course and do most of my house repairs.

“To: djf; Black Agnes; Lurker
Given these kinds of things, I don’t see the practicality of depending on foreign properties. It’s not like you would have six weeks to get your passport in order…”

That’s why you should get your passport in order NOW. More than likely, if you keep alert and looks for the signs you can take “extended vacations” with more than enough time.

“and arrange for some nice neighbors to watch you place”

Right about that. That’s why I don’t encourage people to have a fixed location with all their eggs in one basket.
IF , (big if) hordes of raiders come your way, call me crazy but I’d rather not be there. There’s no winning against what you have in mind. Either you lose your home with the stuff inside, or you lose your home and stuff AND your life. I’d rather be elsewhere by then.
Travis has a plan, he has means to leave in his “pod”, others can have other plans to leave in a hurry as well.

“and go to the drugstore to stock up on suntan lotion or something...”

Suntan lotion is available world wide as long as you have the money.

Another point worth making, you can get your papers ready in a day or two if you know the right people and have a nice stash of cash. Not getting into much detail, it can be done and I’ve done it before, doing something in that line right now as a matter of fact.
A bit of people’s skill and cash goes a long way.

Moral issues aside, sometimes you simply don’t have an option.

“Owning real estate means you have to manage it. You can manage a rental in France from Costa Rica- not without paid help to get the rent and to get it to you. You cannot rely on such help in hard times. That part is quite unrealistic. Food stockup makes sense. About which see the “Mormon one year plan” etc.”

Unless there’s a complete collapse and that with a socialist/communist twist, you still have your property and can manage it. About the cost, its less than setting up a loaded retreat/bunker with some of the setups some survival gurus claim you simply must have.
One little lesson I’ve learn: If you didn’t even try doing it don’t say it can’t be done. It can be done, doesn’t require a small personal fortune and I know one American that did just that recently on an average salary. Some bestselling financial authors write entire books that sum up the following way: Rent your place, have a US based business, and live in a 3rd world country were money goes 3 to 5 times further.
I don’t recommend living in a 3rd world country because I know 3rd world countries and the risks involved better than some of these guys that only see the advantages, not the cons. But still it is true that property can be very cheap in some countries and make you good money per month. Of course there’s always risks like everything else in life but mostly it’s a matter not knowing how to do these things, rather than not being possible.

“To: angkor
How did you go about buying property in another country? I would have no idea how to do that.”

Best thing to do (and cheapest way) is to actually go to the places and countries you’re considering, staying there some time and doing research. Get in touch with local realtors, then to a realtor that wont steal from you and find you a good deal.

“To: 2ndDivisionVet

But investments? WTF? You’re liable to get robbed or killed if you go to the supermarket, much less an ATM or bank!
And I don’t necessarily agree with him summarily dismissing stocking up on TP or whatever. There was a show on a while back called “The New Pioneers” or something like that, a reality show where these folks tried to make it as ranchers in the old west.”

You have to be smart about it. Being honest, I dress like crap drive in a beaten up import car that is as dirty as it gets.
The car is dirty, attracts less attention, you don’t look wealthy. The car is a tricky deal: The most common models, even though less expensive, get stolen MUCH more often than my Daewoo Lanos that costs almost twice as much than Renalut 9, Fiat Uno, etc. But why do bad guys look for these common cars and not mine that is more expensive? First, as I said it looks like crap, has dents and bumps from roadblocks and protesters, never fixed it, never will.
Second, and here’s the little secret: These inexpensive, more common cars, there’s a much greater market for their stolen parts. :-)
So you see, things aren’t always easy, black or white, US wont go directly into Mad Max “ Oh, no here nothing like what happened in Argentina would occur, here we’d go straight for Roadwarrior” People, don’t mean to offend anyone, but you’re already starting to look like Argentina. Hope you’ll never go down the way we did in 2001 but there are so many similarities, the society is being affected in such a similar manner in spite of the differences.

” There was a show on a while back called “The New Pioneers” or something like that, a reality show where”

And guys, PLEASE don’t base you’re preparedness plans based on reality TV shows.
The thing about TP never going to be worth more than it already is world wide is that we’re full of scrap paper and cardboard, and TP is extremely easy to make, even in psot collapse society. Buy lots of it for you and future use, but don’t make the mistake of thinking you can make a buck selling TP after SHTF
Take care guys.

FerFAL