Tense Times

One of my rules for this blog is to not get political. In my day job, I have ample opportunities to do that, and I’m sure I can find a venue for anything they don’t want but I feel the need to say.

However, politics directly impacts the times, and right now, times are tense.

For the last week or so, I’ve been pondering the way our nation is heading, and it scares the crap out of me.

We’ve had riots regularly since the inauguration, and there’s been plenty of violence directed at people who share opinions pretty similar to mine. Further, this violence was directed at people who are often far less public than I am about those views.

Now, consider this video that’s made the rounds:

It’s been getting mocked pretty regularly, but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.

You see, it’s easy to say that these guys aren’t that good, that their training is subpar, and they’re not really a threat.

Yes, the training we’re seeing is fairly laughable, but you know what? They’re training. They’re armed up and they’re working toward getting better.

While many of those folks may well be arming up for personal protection, I’m more than sure that there’s plenty of their ideological brothers and sisters who are ready to use that training to create the world they believe should exist.

As someone more familiar with war than I said in a discussion of this kind of thing:

Comment on Sam’s page: ‘A blood bath.‘

My response:Yep. Because only one side has consistently displayed a willingness to get violent, right now, right here, despite the blatherings of the Right about ‘Molon Labe!’ and ‘From My Cold Dead Fingers,” etc….Talk is cheap. It will be a number of blood baths, but 99% of the victims are NOT going to be the Leftist pseudo-Anarchists that are willing to fuck shit up, already, without quality weapons at their disposal.

That’s why I’m not ready to dismiss these guys. That gentleman, who goes by the name John Mosby on the internet, has spent a lot of time studying the nature of internal conflict and has written for years about the nature of a civil war on American soil.

Here are his thoughts on the nature of that war.

This is an actual civil war, as in a conflict between ideologically-opposed factions within the civilian and political population of a country. Like real civil wars, it is not going to be pretty. It’s not going to be armies, in pretty uniforms, fighting pitched, conventional battles. It’s going to be a matter of assassination, sabotage, hit-and-run raids, targeting ideological leadership figures, enemy families, etc.

As Matt Bracken pointed out in a recent Facebook post himself, we’re looking at more of a Balkans and/or Argentine “Dirty War” conflict. People just haven’t accepted that, because it doesn’t fit their mental images of what “war,” even “guerrilla war” looks like. That, in turn, is because, even the most devout conversions to the “Church of the Anti-Media” in this country today, have a lifetime of conditioning to the media’s portrayal of what “reality” is. From what a “proper” war looks like, to what “collapse” looks like, to what “bad guys” look like.

This actually mimics my own concerns on the situation.

So, if I didn’t intend to talk about politics on this blog, why am I bringing this up?

Well, I’m a writer who slaps the Antifa around on a regular basis for a living. I’m loud, vocal, and I know I don’t have the good sense to shut up about this kind of thing.

I know good and well that I’m a potential target.

Like Mr. Mosby, I have no intention of dismissing Antifa because they look a little silly.  Another comment from Mosby:

I can train a fucking monkey to run an AR or an AK in three days. Give me ten days, and I can bring a complete novice to a near-expert level of proficiency with the gun. That’s fucking easy. The hard part? Convincing somebody to actually use it. Convincing someone that they actually need to overcome the culturally conditioned aversion to interpersonal violence that Americans have been spoonfed for the last sixty years, is far more challenging than teaching someone the mechanics of gunfighting. Guess which side has already overcome that cultural conditioning? I’ll give you two hints: first, it’s not the guys typing away on FB about how they’re gonna “slaughter” Leftists, as soon as they get permission from their Mommy. Second, it’s the people that are already cracking complete strangers in the head with bricks, then putting the boots to the unconscious victims, before throwing a Molotov Cocktail through their car window.

They’ve crossed that threshold and they’re training with their weapons. All it takes is someone with a bit of knowledge to work with them, and while the vast majority of veterans are on my side in this, it doesn’t require many to work with them and get them up to speed.

“The only vets I’ve known who went liberal were REMF’s.”

That’s been my experience too.  However, keep in mind that we don’t know every vet. Furthermore, even an REMF Marine has been trained in how to fight. Get enough of those, and you don’t need a combat arms vet to train them.

I won’t lie, I’m worried.  As a potential target–I don’t think I’m high on the list by any means, but I’m fairly sure I’ll be on someone’s list–I’m concerned about not just me, but my family. Will they become targets too?

These times are tense, but I also don’t plan on being easy meat.  I also need to make sure my wife and son aren’t easy meat (my daughter gets a pass only because she’s five.  She, too, will learn).

Time to hit the weights again, that’s definitely for sure.  And the range.  And the punching bag.

Now to find a good knife training video or two…