Pay Attention

Last week, my friend Mike Shelby of Forward Observer/GrayZone Activity put out a thread detailing the indictment of 61 far left activists for their activity at the Cop City protests. While many cheered on what seemed to be a far-overdue indictment against ANTIFA, what the indictment reveals are significant risks to those of us involved in preparedness, and rather than cheering on State overreach, we should be sounding alarm bells. Reminder: If the State abuses its authority against those you oppose, it will also abuse its authority against you. Let me explain, but first, some Tactical Wisdom:

…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.  Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves.

Ezekiel 33:4-5

A couple of years ago, in a DHS Bulletin, the FBI and DHS listed preparedness and a desire to be “be ready” as indicators of potential extremism. It went so far as to list interest in canning and food preservation (yes, really) as signs of extremism and as a response, Facebook began issuing warnings to people inside canning groups on Facebook that they might have been exposed to extremist content. Yes, this all happened. Why is it important? Because the FBI also calls ANTIFA extremists, and they listed many things that we do every day as preparedness-minded people as signs of engaging in criminal extremism.

Most of us involved in preparedness are concerned about our personal security and privacy. We use apps like Signal and Telegram to communicate. According to the Cop City indictment, using Signal, Telegram, and Tor to avoid government surveillance is a sign of extremism. I teach Bible studies and we use Signal because the men in my studies need to know that the personal issues we discuss are safe and secure from prying eyes, not because it’s extreme.

Another tool they say people use to avoid surveillance is radio. Now, as folks involved in preparedness, we discuss and use radios a lot. We get licenses and use them daily. They never claim in the indictment that a crime was committed using radio, which would have been a separate count and well-justified, they just said that using radio instead of cell phones was “indicative” of criminal behavior. News flash: It isn’t. Be aware, though, that this activity is being tracked. This should get even the saddest of sad hams on alert.

The use of Faraday Bags was covered as well. The FBI pointed out that the members of this extremist group used Faraday bags to avoid government eavesdropping. Well, so do I, but I’m more worried about Google’s eavesdropping quite frankly. I have several and use them to protect my electronics from EMP nad to limit Big Tech surveillance. Most of us do.

One of the more hilarious points made was that “they avoid storing phone numbers by memorizing them”. Congratulations, if you were born before 1990 and had the phone number of everyone you knew memorized, you were an extremist and didn’t even know it. I get it, it’s unusual NOW, but I still know a lot of phone numbers by heart.

The indictment also mentions burner phones, and that’s a topic that both NC Scout and I talk about. From his perspective, he says there is no such thing because that phone has an IMEI that is associated with your activity, and he’s right. I point out that after the passing of the PATRIOT Act and Know Your Customer laws, you cannot get a true burner phone without already violating the law, so don’t try. Never give them an easy win. The fact that they tied these “burner phones” to the 61 indicted people PROVES NC Scout’s point that the IMEI can still be used as evidence (International Mobile Equipment Identification – a ID number of the phone).

As Mike Shelby pointed out in his Twitter thread, the practice of “vouching” for others while vetting members in your groups is how groups get infiltrated. One person gets charged with some obscure thing and suddenly is “vouching” for his “cousin” that no one has ever met, who wants into your prepper group, and he has this neat idea about kidnapping a governor or something. Never let crazy people or extremists into your mutual assistance groups. Anyone who advocates for illegal activity should be removed immediately and have no further contact.

I know, a lot of you are thinking, but we’re not doing anything more extreme than preparing for a Maui-like fire or hurricane, so who cares? Remember – they think that IS EXTREMISM. One guy in the Whitmer case testified yesterday that he didn’t think the plot was even serious, but he was still arrested. The Federal government came in and CREATED a plot because they didn’t like militias. I don’t like the term militia for this reason. Avoid it.

All I hoped to do here was point out to you that if the government considers these things as signs of extremism for ANTIFA, they consider it the same for you. I urge you to be very careful in who you share your communications and preparedness plans with. Also, be VERY selective in letting people into your groups, and monitor what they are saying, both privately and on social media. You don’t need a member of your group saying things like the poor man in Provo (he was dumb but didn’t deserve to be murdered).

Be careful and stay secure.

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

Proverbs 22:3

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