The Q&A portion of the Wild Bunch Dispatch will be held on this page from 6pm to 7:30pm (Mountain Time) today. Any questions you might have on the 54th issue please post here and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability. Some ground rules:
1) Please stick to the subject matter of the newsletter.
2) This is not a debate forum. If you have some concerns I’m happy to address them, but I can’t get into a long circular debate while other people have questions.
3) If I do not respond to your question immediately, don’t freak out. I’ll get to it, don’t worry.
4) Try to keep to one or two questions each time you write a post. Please refrain from essay-long multi-question posts. It is much appreciated.
I will begin discussion at exactly 6pm Mountain time. Looking forward to your questions and thoughts on the Wild Bunch Issue #54. The next issue of the newsletter will be released on May 8th. If you missed out on this discussion you can still subscribe for the next issue and participate. For more information on how to subscribe, visit the link HERE.
Regards,
Brandon Smith, Founder of Alt-Market.us
Discussion is now open on Issue #54.
What are your thoughts about VPN services like Nord VPN?
I’ve heard opposing views on this – Some people claim it helps protect your identity while others say it does nothing. When you start getting into proxy servers and related information, I am out of my depth. I suspect that a VPN is better than nothing, but if the NSA really wants to find out who you are through your web habits they probably can. I don’t think protecting your identity on the web is possible, and I don’t really see it as all that important. The only data that is important is time sensitive plans of action, and that’s what you really need to encrypt and protect.
Since you mentioned Edward Snowden I have to ask, why do the Leftists hate him so much?
I think leftists hate anyone that has the balls to defy or expose the crimes of the state. They act as if they want to revolt against the system, but that’s not really the case. They LOVE the idea of the system, they just think that THEY should own it. What they truly want is to mold the system to do their bidding and to oppress anyone who disagrees with them. They think they are the righteous class, that they are on the right side of history; therefore, the system should be under their control so that they can use it to spy on or crush the evil people who want to remain independent and free. The government is like the “One Ring” from Lord Of The Rings – Everyone thinks they are the people that should have the ring and that they are the people that can use it for the “greater good”, but the ring corrupts their minds because they are weak. No one should have control of the ring.
Exposing the state is a heresy in the minds of leftists. It’s like someone criticizing Allah in front of fundamentalist Muslims. They tend to get violent.
Also, the leftists and the media spent decades trying to label liberty movement people as “conspiracy theorists” whenever we warned about mass electronic surveillance programs. They said we were “crazy” and that the claim was similar to a “belief in aliens”. Snowden made them look like complete idiots, so that might be contributing to their disdain for him.
Is there a brand/model of DMR that you recommend?
If you can afford them, the Motorolas with encryption and waterproofing are nice. Retevis and Anytone have a couple of nice models and they are more affordable. The top of the line best-of-the-best seems to be the Hytera radios, though. You can get them with 256 AES encryption, but they are very expensive. Also, there are models with frequency hopping, but I don’t know if you can get FH and encryption in the same radio. That would be amazing if you could have both.
Thanks. I have the Motorola dtr 700 currently and that may be enough, but I like having contingency plans.
Those are nice. The DTRs with FH work very well, and they are very hard to pick up on radio spectrum analyzers (which is how someone would first attempt to listen in on your transmissions). The Trisquares show up on spectrum analyzers pretty easily, which is probably why they were cheaper to buy when they were still being produced. Retevis also has some very affordable FH radios, as well. I would definitely use those types of radios for short range comms and use Ham for long range.
What do know and/or think of the Signal messaging app and it’s usefulness now?
For day-to-day privacy, maybe. But I don’t trust anything that uses cell phones where a time sensitive action is involved. Too many possible back doors. The people at the capitol should not have used it. They should have used DMR radios if they wanted to be sure they had secure comms, and they should have kept control of who had access to comms. There were FAR too many people on their network list during that protest, and some of them were idiots.
Agreed. I was referring to day-to-day use between select friends. Definitely not anything time sensitive. I consider cell phones as something similar to a billboard.
Besides having someone in your group that knows how to encrypt data it’s also be a good idea to have someone who’s good at code breaking and decryption should you come across enemies who also use encryption.
Another idea for encryption and secret codes is send them in a language the enemy isn’t likely to know. We used the Navajo language to send coded messages during WW2 in the Pacific theatre.
Double encryption is the best option in my view. Using a book code on an encrypted radio transmission, for example. A government agency might still be able to break it eventually, but you are talking about weeks or perhaps months of work, and by the time they figure it out, your group will have switched to a whole new code.
Last question. Do you see value in writing an opinion piece/open letter to your governor? I know you said get off of big tech and this would definitely set off alarms.
I’m in NC and out governor just announced that removing the mask mandate will be tied to reaching 2/3 vaccination rate. They are REALLY pushing it here. He’s far left and has been quite the little dictator and I am now so fully over it. The local media refuses to call him out. Thankfully, our Lt. Gov. tries, but he gets shut down and censured as well.
Or would it be better to lay low? This state is not nearly as conservative as many think.
I think you might need to consider at least moving to a red county if you don’t live in one already. I would NOT lay low. I would start organizing as quickly as possible. Writing a letter to a leftist governor is probably a waste of time. But, sending him a community wide declaration of non-compliance might set an example for the rest of the state. Also, keep in mind that the 2/3 vaccination rate is a lie; a ploy. They will say that for now, but then they will demand 100% vaccination rates a year from now. We have to stop vaccine mandates now. How? Ignore the state and federal mandates and organize your community to defy them.
Pita is right. People think that because NC generally goes red on national elections, we’re a red state. But we almost always vote for a D governor and the state is purple at best and not nearly as conservative as a whole as many think. Even in many red counties most folks will mask up and do as they’re told.
I think you would be surprised how many people will take the masks off as soon as they see a group of people defying the mandates. Sometimes, all it takes is a handful of leaders willing to set an example and the community realizes they are not alone.
I live in Asheville, NC What a shit hole this place has turned into in the last decade. NC sucks. Was in FL last week and it was really nice. Still crazy to see how many comply when they don’t have to. Thinking of moving to TN. I don’t see NC changing any time soon.
Discussion is now closed on Issue #54. Thanks to all those subscribers who participated. If you missed out on this issue or would like to subscribe to The Wild Bunch Dispatch to receive future issues, visit the subscription page HERE.
Issue #55 will be released on May 8th.