I am working a new to me laptop, it is an older one that I inherited, so I wiped it and loaded some basic programs on it.  It is a the same age as my regular laptop but a bit larger so I am getting used to it.  It will become my backup in case my regular laptop bites the farm and is unrecoverable. 
     I got this in my email from Miggy and normally I like to break up items themes, but this came in my email and it ties in what I posted Yesterday.  It is full of good information that is useful in the present situations.

Staying Alive in the Brave New World

Everything has changed, and your safety depends on understanding that.

By

 Michael Bane

 -

 August 26, 2020

Okay kids, let’s make some assumptions here…you are free to accept or reject them as you see fit:

 

• We have fully entered a new phase of “acceptable” violence. What we now see is “recreational arson,” that is, the setting of fires with the inherent risk to human life for fun. Remember when you were a kid and how thrilling setting off fireworks was for you? This is the exact some thing, kicked, as Emeril might say, up a notch.

• One major political party and their farthest left members fully support this violence, because they see it as the best chance for wholesale social change, e.g.the Socialist States of America (or some other similar euphemism for fascism, which is what we are really looking at here). They are correct. Historically, times of massive uncertainty offers a narrow window for massive political/government change. The other side understands that this is “The Year of the Jackpot” [Refer: Robert Heinlein], and they are all-in.

• Yes, we have seen this kind of urban violence before in the late 1960s/early 1970s, but what is different this time is that in the earlier case there was among most citizens an agreement about what America was, a consensus of the exceptionality of the U.S., if you will. That does not exist today. Rather, well before the China Virus and the riots, the two Americas, one red and one blue, were already locked in what has been called — fairly, I think — a “Cold Civil War.”

• Maybe if we all take a deep breath, calm down and relax, we’ll come through this. But maybe not. “Maybe” is a very big word. As we have said on THE BEST DEFENSE, self-defense is always a compromise, a balance of risk/reward. If we apply that same thinking to our current situation, we see the fallacy in “relax.” If we relax and the current crisis just fades away, everything is cool If we relax and are, in fact, wrong, we lose the country, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the vote, our guns and maybe even our lives. The teeter-totter is wildly weighted on only one end.

 

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, given those assumptions, what do we need to know as we face the Brave New World? I have been thinking about that a lot and talking to my team, who I believe are the best in the world at what they do. If we immediately move down to a “tactical,” as opposed to “strategic” level, here are some thoughts. Once again, feel free to either accept them or reject them out of hand. None of us have any words on a marble tablets delivered down from a mountaintop:

 

• If you are not armed all the time, you are a fool. The time for fond illusions of safety has passed.

• This is something I’m often deficient in, but I think we all need to be carrying less lethal weaponry in addition to a firearm. I just ordered a bunch of pepper spray (Sabre Red) to remedy that. I have bear spray for the car (you never know when you’re going to be attacked by bears in these strange times). In our upcoming episode of YOUR BEST DEFENSE, Cecil Burch notes that inside a car, gel makes more sense the spray because you don’t want all that pepper spray in your car or your kids. BTW, have you ever tried/had to function in a gas environment? The mob gets practice in that every night they riot. Consider taking a course…I recommend my friend Chuck Haggard. 

• Understand that if you use that gun or any weapon, for that matter, the full power of the state, in the form of state attorney generals bought and paid for by George Soros and Michael Bloomberg, and the media will be leveled against you. If you don’t have some form of concealed carry insurance (mine is through USCCA), sign up today. Have a criminal lawyer programmed into your phone, and talk to that lawyer IN ADVANCE. Yes, it’s going to cost you money up front, but in all likelihood (as in Kenosha) you are going to be charged with murder rather than hailed as a hero. That’s kinda a big deal.

• THERE IS A YUUUUGGGGEEEE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROTECTING YOUR HOME AND FAMILY AND DOING A MARSHAL DILLON DOWNTOWN! It behooves you to understand that difference. Most states do not allow the use of deadly force to protect property, but it is all hellishly complex, giving you lots of gears to be caught up in. Trust Andrew Branca. I do.

• Should you do decide to go ahead with such an act, assume you will have to use the gun you are carrying. The current batch of urban terrorists are unlikely to melt away at the sight of a firearm. They are not scared of you or the gun. KNOW THE FREAKIN’ LAW in your state and community on lethal force! Standing over a couple of cooling bodies with a smoking AR is a bad time to consider the legality of your situation. THIS IS THE TIME TO NOT BE STUPID, KIDS! Read this: 

• Gabe Suarez once made a great point to me…people talk about who/what they’re willing to kill for, but the big question is actually what/who are you willing to die for, or spend the rest of your life in prison for? Gabe has made that type of hard decision. Cecil, Mike Seeklander and I have talked about that very point in the show going up next week. Where is your line in the sand? You’d better know that when you step out of the door with a gun.

• In ANY case, assume the peaceful protestors/terrorists you are facing are also armed. A brick is a weapon. A skateboard is a weapon. A frozen water bottle is a weapon. A gun, even a crappy zinc pistol, is a weapon and can kill you stone dead. I think we have to assume that at least some members of the mob have guns, and that number will probably be increasing.

• Understand that even in the best case, an armed individual can be overrun by a mob. And when they catch you, they are unlikely to be all that happy with you. I said in my book TRAIL SAFE that none of us needed to go looking for “High Noon,” because “High Noon” would eventually find us. THE GUN IS NOT A TALISMAN AGAINST EVIL! It only matters when it goes “Bang!”

• If you are facing guns, you must be thinking about your situation at at least a semblance of a military level…when you have to move, which direction are you going? WHERE IS COVER? Where is concealment? Where is more ammo? If you are at home, does your Spousal Unit or your kids know what you are planning to do? IS THERE A PLAN? There sure needs to be. And everyone needs to know it.

• You are carrying first aid/trauma gear (caveat, Riley is a friend, but I like his stuff), right? And you know how to use them, right? You don’t? GET THE TRAINING! The ability to save a life, maybe your own, is now a necessary skill. Start here. 

•. The police are not coming. The ambulance is not coming. The first responders who would have been on the scene in minutes in the Old Days — say, February — won’t be there for you. It’s just you and what supplies you have at hand.

• YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! Now more than ever.