I was going to say some of the same things. Two Leathermans are redundant unless you have a dedicated Raptor scissor to go along with a regular Leatherman (I seen a volunteer paramedic with that loadout before at Walmart). With EDC you want quality for things you know you are not going to lose or possibly get confiscated.
Paracord is not exactly the most useful thing in a urban/suburban environment. Youâre better off with a mini roll of duct tape wrapped around a used up gift card and maybe some rubberized twist ties.
I am not sure those people even want genuine practicality. The most convincing explanation of the prepper phenomenon I have seen so far is that those are disaffected people, mostly men, who realize on some level that they are losers in the real world. They seek out skills and equipment that are attainable but not really appreciated in our society. That allows them to daydream about a world where all the rules change and their protein bar collection, their crossbow and their superior shitting-in-the-woods skills turn them into kings among men and theyâll be able to show everyone.
They donât want to make it through the next tornado/flood/whatever as well as possible. They want the faint hope that they will be Mad Max when the time comes. Or if that fails, at least a Walking Dead season villain.
Then they freak out about the covid shutdowns and storm a state capital with guns demanding hair cuts. They ended up being the least capable to deal with a survival situation. Fetishizing âimprovise, adapt and overcomeâ and the OODA loop but when the moment theyâre asked to get a vaccine, wear a cloth mask to go the supermarket and wash their hands more frequently⌠they get angry and start pissing themselves because they are inconvenienced.
I am sure that for anyone who was actually worried about disasters, the single most important skill to learn would be first aid. If youâre really worried about the long haul I could also see things like gardening, cooking, and sewing. Thereâs also the nice bonus that although less critical, all of those happen to be useful now.
I appreciate the fact that in shows like âThe Walking Deadâ they show that rather quickly, once you get past actually living through a zombie encounter, you realize that food and education are actually massively important survival skills.
itâs always funny that the lowest paid - or even unpaid - jobs are the ones needed for survival. and those are the ones that in our women are often steered towards.
meanwhile, the things most likely to be useless, or get you ded quick ( like playing with guns ) are all well paid - or over paid - and often labeled as being for men.
day trader vs nurse?
cop vs kindergarten teacher?
i know whoâd i want on my side
From a story on Mike Flynnâs activities
But a little digging reveals that the Shepherd Group is not entirely new: rather, it appears to be a front for the militant group 1st Amendment Praetorian, previously a volunteer outfit that has deployed its self-described force of former armed forces and police personnel as security for right-wing leaders and events. The groupâs name derives from the elite cadre of Roman soldiers who served as the emperorâs personal retinue.
Every man has his price.
Indeed. I found it interesting that even in gun-toting ruggedly individualist Texas, when the winter storm hit last year, most people (who werenât Ted Cruz) didnât immediately start looting their neighbours with their guns but rather helped each other as much as they could.
In a real post-apocalypse being able to defend your homestead will be much further down the list of necessary skills than being able to build a fire and grow food. But of course these things arenât cool enough for the prepper mentality. I suspect that those that focus on guns and tactics in their prepping arenât actually the ones that will âdefend their familiesâ from âlootersâ (which I am sure they imagine as minorities), in reality they will be the looters and home invaders.
So effed up, because of course, the National Guard shouldâve been there doing the exact opposite.
Ted Cruz didnât start looting his neighbors! HeâŚmore took a break from looting his neighbors, and used the proceeds to go on vacation. 
So thatâs why the pentagon was prevented from ârespondingâ to the riot-- somebody knew that they would be reinforcing the insurrectionist side and would only make things worse.
There was supposed to be Antifa. The National Guard would have looked silly forcibly suppressing absolutely no one while the Trumpists stormed the Capitol.
The PowerPoint circulated by Waldron included proposals for Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 to reject electors from âstates where fraud occurredâ or replace them with Republican electors. It included a third proposal in which the certification of Joe Bidenâs victory was to be delayed, and U.S. marshals and National Guard troops were to help âsecureâ and count paper ballots in key states. [âŚ] Although Trump at the time was pressuring Pence to delay certifying Bidenâs victory, it is not clear how widely the PowerPoint was circulated or how seriously the ideas in it were considered.
IMO they mightâve put this a little closer to the lede:
Arizona Senate President Karen Fann consulted Waldron in deciding to hire the Florida firm Cyber Ninjas to conduct that review, according to text messages that the nonprofit American Oversight obtained through a public records request.
Butter emails!
