Prudence in Uncertain Times

Banks are on dangerous ground, the Russo-Ukrainian War risks escalation, and China is expanding it’s challenges. What more could go wrong?

Well, the Manhattan DA claims he’s about to arrest Donald Trump. Rather than calling for calm, Donald Trump, as usual, decided to play right into their hands and call for protests to “take back our country” if he is arrested. For the record, if those protests do happen, the Feds will almost certainly charge him with Incitement to Riot, Solicitation to Riot, or Sedition, almost immediately.

While I feel that the odds of an actual arrest are low, I do feel that he will be indicted, and his base will protest. Prudence demands that you take certain steps. There is some Tactical Wisdom from the Ultimate Tactical Handbook on this:

The prudent see danger and take refuge,
    but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

Proverbs 22:3

Now, I don’t literally mean take refuge and hide in your home, I mean take steps to mitigate some of these risks.

First, the banking system internationally and the financial system are both at high risk and the measures that central banks are taking increase that risk. I recommend withdrawing enough cash to get you through one month of no access to cash. The first thing that happened with SVB and Signature Bank was depositors being denied access to their accounts. Keep a substantial amount of cash on hand to enable you to eat and fuel your vehicles.

That’s the second note, and one I make regularly: Make sure your vehicles are full and have a little extra gas stored. The Colonial Pipeline hack should have convinced you of this, as should the volatility in gas prices.

Again, while the likelihood is low, you should take some steps to prepare yourself for potential unrest after Tuesday. Is there a federal building along your route? Maybe plan an alternate route around it. You may very well support any protestors who show up, but I GUARANTEE you they will be outnumbered by counter-protestors from ANTIFA looking to do some damage. Also, the police and federal agencies are FAR more likely to use violence to disperse pro-Trump protestors. I know, it’s not right and it’s not fair, but it IS TRUE, so plan for it. Avoid those areas.

Check out and discuss alternate routes for all of your family members and discuss a solid communications plan, in the event of widespread unrest. I know, it’s very low likelihood, but failing to plan for it is inexcusable. Here’s a reminder:

if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.

Ezekiel 33:4

The problem is that the Q folks and a lot of President Trump’s supporters are fervently so. In other words, they are willing to go to the mat, despite the fact that it will not benefit their cause.

I’ll be honest, as much as I say our side has to get out and do something, this isn’t the issue to go to the mat on. We saw how they treated the J6 protestors, and how President Trump has done literally NOTHING at all to support them. Protest the rising tyranny, but not the arrest or charging of Trump. The court system exists for Trump to have his day in court and plead his case. You getting beaten and locked up for protesting won’t help our cause, in fact, it will HURT our cause by giving them a reason to impose stricter tyranny.

This entire thing may even be engineered to cause exactly that response. Be careful.

On the other hand, protest things like new gun laws that infringe on your rights. Protest federal control over elections in violation of the Constitution. Protest Drag Queen events targeting children. Not the arrest of a single man who brings on most of his own issues.

Back to the topic at hand, also have enough shelf-stable food for two weeks, in the event you can’t get out into a grocery store because of unrest or issues. As the risk of global conflict goes up, so does the risk of a large-scale cyber-attack targeting our grid or financial sector.

If your group or family communication plan involves radios, make sure that all have a full battery and that everyone is carrying their radio at all times this week. I’ll be keeping one radio with me and another on my chest rig with a full battery. Also, maintain all battery banks at full power during the potential crisis. Resist the temptation to use them daily…while you have grid power, you should be using that to charge your devices and keep the battery back-ups full.

Monday is a good day to inventory and repack all Get-Home Bags. It’s time for a spring check-up and update anyways, so get them out and triple-check them. More importantly, after doing so, PUT THEM IN YOUR CAR.

You should have a “Minuteman” rig ready at a moment’s notice and it should be checked. This is your “The Threat is Coming Now” rig. As the name implies, during the frontier times, when word came of an Indian war-band or enemy patrol (French or whomever), all of the men grabbed their Minuteman gear and went to man the defenses of the neighborhood. This should be a chest-rig and belt type of set-up, and I would include my Patrol-EDC bag from the Baseline Training Manual. This should all be staged so that you can grab it and your defensive tools (long gun/pistol/knife) in less than 2 minutes and be ready to act. Mine is an ExUmbris belt and a UW Gear “Mini-Swamp Fox” chest rig. I toss my USMC FILBE Assault pack on with my 0241 Tactical Pack Cover (MARPAT, of course) and I’m ready for up to 72 hours of action unsupported.

For our South African friends, you should already by ready for this for tomorrow’s general strike by the EFF.

Subscribe to information sharing services like Forward Observer or Knightsbridge (I use both) to stay ahead of rumors with solid intelligence. Monitor local social media groups for indications of potential issues. This is a big one, because right now, I see a big trend of people saying, “I’ve stopped paying attention, it’s too depressing.” Listen, it is depressing, but sticking your head in the sand is NOT preparedness. You NEED to pay attention. Those who don’t are the ones who fall for rumors and take action based on unconfirmed things.

Another good source of solid breaking news is my Locals Community at tacticalwisdom.locals.com. You can support me there or below.

A good resource for how to vet information and avoid rumors is Dr. Perrodin’s book, The Velocity of Information. I was a contributor, and he did some serious research into the topic of Chaotic Information Flow. Highly recommended.

Friends, it’s a scary time. Reduce your stress by taking some basic preparedness actions, and by paying attention to what is going on around you.

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