News from the Front

My biggest complaint with those who want to preserve our nation, is that we are completely ceding the ground to the anarchists and leftists who want to destroy our nation.

It’s time for us to get out in the streets as well, and take smart action to preserve the Republic.  I’m not saying get out and destroy things, but I am saying that everywhere that citizens have shown up to defend a business or a statue, they’ve been successful without much trouble because the left is counting on zero resistance.

I don’t advocate initiating violence at all, but I do advocate smart responses.  

The key to a smart response is to study the opposition and gather intelligence.  I began this project locally here in Detroit a few days ago, and I reported on the first operation the other day.  Here, I want to share key findings from two other protests I attended.

First, it’s important to give a few ground rules.  I didn’t show up in a USA t-shirt, wearing a MAGA hat, and draped in a Trump 2020 flag, nor did I arrive dressed as super tactics-man in all my tacti-cool gear.  I wore just jeans, a t-shirt, hoodie (for quick change), a basic ball cap, and a face mask. 

Yes, I wore a face mask, despite my feelings about it.  Here’s why…try positively identifying a guy in a face mask, ball cap, and sunglasses.  You can’t.  I assumed a completely different profile simply by removing the hoodie and sunglasses, switching ball caps, and putting on a different color face mask.  Total gray man.  Backpacks are so common now, that you can carry a couple of complete profile changes, some defensive tools, and first aid supplies unobtrusively.  I also used the backpack strap to carry my hidden surveillance camera.

On Saturday, I attended the Black Lives Matter march and Juneteenth celebration in downtown Detroit, and developed some good information, some of which points to a need for further research.

My first observation was that you shouldn’t believe the media hype about hate.  The media would have you believe that racial tensions have everyone hating each other.  It’s untrue, and before the march even arrived, God proved it to me.  I had positioned myself at Campus Martius Park, because there is a Civil War memorial there.  As the march approached, three young black men approached me, and formed a circle around me.  One of them walked right up to me and said “excuse me sir, there are protesters coming, you might want to move.”  These young men were worried about my safety, and the MSM would have you believe that that would never happen.  Out of respect for their concern, I moved a bit away. 

Second, unlike in Ann Arbor, Detroit BLM had their own security provided by a group of older men from the local Masonic Lodge.  In Detroit culture, older men who belong to the Masons are a bedrock of the community and are respected by even the most hardened thugs.  This was a smart move.  These guys walked on both sides of the crowd, mostly looking inward to watch for agitators.

The same medical staff, provided by the local RevCom group (ANTIFA), that were at Ann Arbor were present.  The exact same staff.  I also noticed that some of the ANTIFA security team from Ann Arbor were present in Detroit, but not handling security, they were among the crowd, but they were closely watched by the Masons.

The only active agitator started yelling because the group was cooperating with police and he was quickly removed by the Masonic security team.

One person fell to a heat casualty, so I got to see the ANTIFA medics spring into action, which consisted of yelling “medic” and forcing the person to drink lots of water (which is actually contra-indicated in heat cases…small sips only). 

I noticed as the march entered the Hart Plaza at the end of the route, all of the ANTIFA/RevCom personnel had Baofeng radios.  That was a very interesting piece of information to develop.

As I moved throughout the crowd, I noticed a man trying very unsuccessfully to secretly record me.  His picture is below, I’ll let you make your own commentary about his shirt.  Almost immediately I noticed that standing right next to him was one of the ANTIFA/RevCom guys I had seen at Ann Arbor the day before.  This tells us that the opposition was doing counter-surveillance, and I admit my own field craft error in visibly appearing to be situationally-aware.

Once I noticed the attention, I went around a corner, stripped off the hoodie, took off the sunglasses, and changed my ball cap and mask, reappearing at the other side as a completely different profile.  The switch worked, because they never looked my way again.

The crowd was completely peaceful and friendly and I interacted with several of them.  The only issue I had was that the speech by the local NAACP President ended up not having anything to do with George Floyd or police brutality and was pretty much just an anti-Trump rally.

Today, I attended a protest against the Canton Police Department.  The organizers said that they were protesting the violent arrest of Sha’ Tenia Grady-El by the Canton Police.  The only problem with that is that she wasn’t arrested by the Canton Township police, she was arrested in the next county over by the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office in Ypsilanti Township, but why let facts get in the way of outrage.

I arrived before the rally began, and was actually surprised to see the EXACT SAME RevCom/ANTIFA security and medic team that I had seen at the last two protests.  At this event, as with the Ann Arbor event, the RevCom/ANTIFA personnel were in charge of security and organization for Survivors Speak, who held the rally.  What surprised me was watching the security team inspect occupied vehicles in the grocery store parking lot where they held the rally.  They openly recorded license plate numbers and stared at vehicle occupants, apparently to intimidate them.  At one point, a man was walking around them taking photos, and they tried to get the police to make him leave or stop recording.  One of my police contacts let me know that they told the security team that they had no legal standing to ask anyone to leave or stop recording, since this wasn’t their parking lot.

This protest had the smallest turnout so far, less than 100 people.  After a few speeches about the usual topics of police brutality, income inequality, and the ever-popular educational racism (holding all students to equal standards is somehow racism), the group then proceeded onto Canton Center Road and blocked the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Canton Center, arguably the second busiest intersection in the township, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, with the police assisting with traffic control. 

The group then continued on to Walmart, where they decried low wages and employment discrimination, despite Walmart having a very diverse workforce.  They then marched back the two blocks to the starting point, where they held a dance party. Total march distance: 4 blocks.

The most interesting learning is that three different protest groups in three different cities used the same RevCom/ANTIFA security & medical group.  At the two protests in which they handled security, the same man led the RevCom/ANTIFA group while wearing Interceptor Body Armor.  At the Detroit Protest, I noticed that he was present, but was wearing a full face mask to prevent identification, but it was clearly him.

My point is this…the opposition is in the streets, far more organized and prepared than we are led to believe, and there is apparently some central authority pointing groups to the RevCom/ANTIFA teams that I’m seeing.  It’s not coincidence and it’s not advertising.  They are also clearly prepared for and willing to engage in violence, although none has occurred at the protests. 

It’s also very telling that while they want the police to recognize their right to peaceably assemble, they are completely unwilling to allow differing viewpoints to do the same, to the point of intimidation and/or forcing them to leave.  If there hadn’t been a large and professional police presence, I believe they would have acted against the man videotaping them. They do serious counter-surveillance.

My advice to you is to get out and learn what the opposition is doing.  

As it says in the Ultimate Tactical Handbook, the Holy Bible:

The prudent see danger and take refuge,

But the simple keep going and pay the penalty

Proverbs 22:3

If you don’t get out and learn what the opposition is doing, you are being not prudent, and you won’t see the danger because of normalcy bias. 

Be prudent….get out there.