Rules For Radicals

 

 

Some people have noticed the fact that the Left has been doing some street theater.


So under the heading of Every Stoopid Thing They Can Do, We Should Do More! Bigger! Faster!, some folks want to rush out and counter-protest.

1) If you’re engaging in street theater in the first place, you’re already doing it wrong.
Things get changed in your congressman’s and councilman’s office, at his fundraising office, and at the polling booth.
Money and influence talks, bullshit walks (at a street protest).

2) List everything in history changed by mob street protest. I’ll wait while you comb the world for even one example.

In case that left a mark

3) That said, if you’re bound and determined to go full retard,



this is how it’s done, from the bottom up:

boots
shin guards under pants (ideally, not visible, but there, either way)
knee protection
hip and tailbone pads
hard cup
ideally, level II or better bullet-resistant vest
and HDPE Level III hard plates (20 pounds lighter than AR500 steel, and rifle proof)
failing the bulletproof model, padded hard plastic chest armor:
football or hockey stuff, and/or a moto riders back turtle plate
sealed swim goggles (eye pro, and gas/vapor/acid protection)
ear plugs (boat horns and whistles work both ways, kids)
shoulder, elbow, and forearm pads
hard-backed gloves
an under-hoodie shell helmet (MICH, biker minimal, or homebrew cut down batting helmet, whatever)
respirator with N100 filtration for riot gasses, in pocket/pouch
boxing/football mouth guard

Skip bandanas/balaclavas.

If you’re worried about ID, you can defeat facial recognition with a much lower profile by cutting down a latex Halloween mask in flesh tones. An old man/woman mask with bigger eye holes and open mouth will do fine, and it’s a lot harder to spot from distance, in a crowd. So you won’t look like a hooligan from 50 yards to TPTB.

Neutral earthtone outer colors is the way to go.
Brighter colors for your under layer, in case you have to flee, changes your appearance rapidly.

If you’re Virgil Cole from Flight Of The Intruder, make/buy your outer pants and jacket/hoodie extra baggy, cut the outer seams, and Velcro them together, for a quick-change. You can make the inside a bright color for quick removal/reversal if you think you need to become Houdini.
And seriously consider nomex underwear if you think getting lit on fire is a thing, and you like your skin.

Sticks and shields are rightly regarded as weapons by any cops in overwatch with two brain cells (which is not all of them).
Carrying them is an invitation to hassle, confiscation, spray/taze/assault beatdown, and arrest. Potentially all four for the same low price.
Padded and protected body parts are not.

Knives, brass knuckles, etc. are dumb. See above.

You might can get away with a flag/banner on a piece of light black pipe steel. Esp. if you paint it white, and stencil on Schedule 40 markings to make it look like plastic. Just saying.

OC spray, (esp. Bear Spray canisters, which has a 10 yard reach out and f*** someone up range), and stun guns, OTOH, are – in most states – not so regarded. IANAL: check you state/city laws, and if legal, load up.

Ditto for CCW: if you can carry, carry. If not, don’t.

If you carry, have an attorney on speed dial and retainer. (Probably a good idea anyways for any event.)

If anything goes down, for the 10,000th time:
Do. Not. Talk. To. Cops. Ever.

They are not your friends, and if they’d been doing their job, nothing would have happened in the first place.

Check with your lawyer, but all they are entitled to is your name.
Not 57 other details.
If you aren’t driving a car, they have no right to demand ID.
(This is why you probably shouldn’t be carrying it in the first place, because if you don’t have it – or a wallet, cellphone, etc. – they can’t search it, legally or illegally.)

Don’t lie to them: give them your real name, and nothing else, other than “I refuse to answer further questions without an attorney present, and I’m exercising my right to remain silent at this point.” Then STFU.
Unless you want to press for “Am I being detained? May I leave?”
That’s your Geneva Convention legal briefing.

You should also have designated medics, with a daypack full of first aid gear, including bottles of water for riot spray decon, and full TCCC supplies.

You should also have designated firefighters, with the biggest small portable CO2 and dry chem extinguishers they can carry concealed in packs or on bodies. Incendiary injuries aren’t funny if aimed at you, but blowing them out by surprise always is.

People should be in groups, with a responsible leader.
Who should be on walkie via earpeice for tactical command and intel updates.
Security, medical, and fire fighters should be within arm reach of that leader, within each small group, and responsible to that designated leader.

It should go without saying that there should be P-A-C-E comm plans.
Consider burner phones for event texting, sterilized of any outside numbers or convos – just for use on the day, in case confiscated/stolen/dropped.
Everyone should know P-A-C-E egress plans, rally points, and a safe person to contact for pickup if/when things go to shit.
Including a friend for pickup, an/the attorney, and a bail agent.
Everyone should have a map to the two closest ERs.

It’s also highly recommended that a couple of infiltrators be salted on the other side or as bystanders, charged only with hanging out and listening, plus passing on any hints of impending violence. Someone or three near the cops, and any tactical command post for same, would also be a damn good idea. Both should have the same level of contingency plans – if not more – if caught, bumped, or need to flee.

And you should also have high point eyes-on surveillance overwatch in as many places as possible, along with a Culper-certified ACE nearby but secure, to battletrack the entire event, on police/fire/EMS and news scanners and local broadcast media, in real time. And forward updates to you on the command net, or text.

(Be aware that every TV and radio station has a back channel broadcast line to communicate with HQ, which is as good or better than the police nets, and you should be listening to that as well. Someone – maybe homeless looking – hanging around the broadcast vans to listen, and with both a walkie and a text/cell burner phone isn’t a bad idea either.)

Can’t pull off that level of prep?
Sucks to be you.

You aren’t tall enough for this ride, and as suggested from the outset, you should probably have stayed home to begin with.

Ignore this at your peril.
Quite possibly in a Darwin Award-winning sort of way.
1* isn’t just for the Blue Crew, boys and girls.

And this is exactly why Remus always says, "Avoid crowds."