Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Death to America???

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Today we are diving straight into the heart of current events, focusing on the ongoing protests at Columbia University. We are going to talk about the complexities of patriotism, personal purpose, and crisis response. 1. The emotional challenge of anti-American sentiment, seeking advice on how to engage constructively with divisive issues in a country we love.  2. How to support a partner in search of new beginnings and a meaningful life mission, particularly when life's path leads us through unexpected twists and turns. 3. Personal safety, with a discussion on effective tactics to respond to public threats, such as the recent tragic knife attack in Sydney. The Speed of War Comic Series: https://www.thespeedofwar.com/ Check out the newest Cleared Hot Gear here: https://shop.clearedhotpodcast.com/  

Well, we find ourselves here yet again. It's actually Thursday evening. Almost 9 p.m. recording this Montana time. Sometimes your time gets away from you. I try to do these episodes, get them in the can a couple days before. I haven't been done a week before. And sometimes it just doesn't work out like that. So, yeah, damn near real time full out of Friday. Three questions for today. Very different topics for sure. Before I begin, though, if you are in the Calispell area, if you're coming to visit Montana, which I advise all of you to do in the winter and the summer. People try to say the winters, or, you know, there's polar bears walking down the streets and stuff. There's not. Buy a nice jacket.

You'll be good. But the summer, man, it'll blow your hair back. I was going to say to blow your socks off. I don't know if that's the right term, though. If you're going to be here, though, in the area, March 4th, I believe from 4 to 6 p.m. Mike Glover is coming to the coffee shop, Black Rifle Coffee, Callispell. He's going to be doing a book signing of his book prepared. A little meet and greet, Q&A.

We'll have books for sale there in case you don't have one and you want to pick one up. And he always draws a good crowd. He's always a great person to have on site because he's amazing. He's an awesome guy. He's one of my best friends. March 4th, 4 to 6 p.m. Black Rifle Coffee Callis Bell. Let's get into this Q&A and then go to bed.

You know what I mean? Let's do it. I'm looking at danger close now. And we're off. Question number one. Any suggestions on how to overcome the anti- American bullshit going on in the country that I love so much right now. It angers me and breaks my heart at the same time. Both of the emotions that are the worst of our human race, I see all of this

death to America coming from Americans, and I want to resort to the barbarian thought, and then I want to resort to the barbarian thought of them getting the fuck out of America thinking. But I have listened to every podcast you have done, and it forces me to think differently. For one, the free speech thing. But on the other hand, I think all Americans who gave everything they had, including their lives, and it angers me to the point where I want to hurt these people, but I won't ever act on that. How can I change my thoughts on these people? Any suggestions? I am truly scared for America's future, sadly. Great question. And I picked this one, for people who listen to the show. They'll know that I try to go with themes for whatever reason.

interesting. I solicit for questions and people write in about everything. And I try not to answer the same question or the same version of the question all the time. But if I get a bunch of themes, meaning thematically the same question, I will answer them. And this fits right into that. Quite a few people have reached out. How should I feel about this? What should we do as a country? Is there a country falling apart? I can't answer all those questions because that would be like a six-hour podcast probably and I would just ramble forever. But I'll tell you how I think about these people. And I'm thinking through these in real time, so I might bounce around here a little bit. But let me start with this.

We need those people. And I'm sure people listening to this right now, I'll probably stop for a second and said, what the fuck did he just say? I said, we need these people. I didn't say I appreciate them. I didn't say I agree with them. I didn't say I would be unwilling to drive over them in a steamroller, but we need them because this is how our country changes. We need people to push to the point that the average

American, and I am putting almost every American in this bucket, this is the person that wants to live their life unbothered, unmolested by other people's bullshit, who wants to use the freedoms that this country provides in the way that they want to, that doesn't want to be told what to do, that doesn't live on the far left or extreme fringe of the left or right side of the political aisle, that is trying to be the best version of themselves, that is trying to be the best version of themselves that is trying to figure out how to orient their compass in the map of life that we all struggle with. That's the vast majority of people that I have encountered in my life. I have so infrequently actually encountered people on these fringe extremist far left and right

organizations. I see them all the time on social media. I never see them in person. Now, I'm not actually going out and actively seeking to engage with them, so there might be that. But in my everyday life, I don't see it. And I don't think most people do as well. But we need these people who will do and say these things so that your average, and I don't mean that negatively, everyday American gets so sick and tired of it that they get off the bench and they do something about it. And I don't mean storm to, I think Columbia University is where I'm seeing a lot of this happen. I apologize if that's not the correct university. Again, real time off the top of my head. I think that's what it was. I am not saying get an airplane ticket and go there and engage with these people verbally or physically.

I'm saying get involved where you live. If you see laws and regulations that you don't like, you stand up against them. You fight them and you have them changed. Why? Because these people, people, in my opinion, and that is all that anything that I say on this podcast counts for, shows us what is possible when you get too far out on the fringe. If we don't do something about it, it will grow. So we need these people to remind us that sometimes you have to get up off the bench. Now, the First Amendment, to me, is about not what I can say. It is about tolerating what others say, even when it absolutely sickens me, turns my stomach, and is the antithesis of the things that I believe.

Yes, I want the freedom of expression as well, and freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, even though I'm not a religious person, I think it is essential that our citizens have the ability to explore and express those things. And when you allow people to have those rights and exercise those rights, sometimes you're going to hear things you don't agree with. And that's a good thing, in my opinion. Because it allows you to think. And I don't think that these ideas as abhorrent as I personally feel them to be, I don't think that they should be put into the shadows because that's where they kind of thrive and grow and can operate like a river that appears flat at the surface but is turbulent. Actually, turbulent would probably be for aircraft. What would it be underneath? I don't know.

I'm going to say turbulent. Turbulent underneath with a direction and force and velocity that might yank you under. That's not what I want. A lot of these isms, Naziism, raceism, sexism, like they're all idiotic and stupid to me. And they'll survive if they're not brought into the light and identified and exposed for what they are. That's what these people are doing. Now, I spent almost 20 years looking for people who would not only chant death to America, they were willing to fight against the ideas and ideologies of this country. And not that any of the people who are chanting death to America would be willing to do that, but I'd have more respect for them if they did.

Whatever your beliefs are, I respect your ability to live your life, how you want to live it. but I respect even more the man or woman that is willing to stand with their toes on the line and put themselves at risk. And I don't mean job or monetary risk. I mean life limit eyesight at risk for what you believe. Still won't agree with you, depending on what you stand for, but I'll respect you for being able to do that. Then I wonder how many of the these people who are chanting death to America, would ever be willing to actually fight against America to take action and arms for the things that they are chanting for. Do I think any of them would? Probably not. And that is where my comment of, I'd be more than willing to roll over

these motherfuckers with a steamroller in that environment, if they wanted to go toe to toe, that's a different place, time and setting. And if it came to that, if they did want to take up arms against this country. And it was, now we're going full red dawn scenario. Would I fight against people in this country who wanted the death of America? Fuck yes, I would. And I also think almost everybody in America would. But I don't want it to get to that point. So how do we stop it? How do we make change? It goes back to what I said in the beginning. We need these people, not for what they're saying, or how they're saying it or what they're necessary ideology is, we need them to motivate your average normal person to get off your ass.

Because if you don't, shit like this can grow. And if you don't want it to, you're going to have to get involved in some point in fashion. Maybe that's just getting off your ass and voting. Not only in a national election, but a local election. Maybe you ought to be running for office at the local level. Maybe you don't want to run for office, but you want to support somebody that does or an organization. There are so many different ways that you can take action and bond together as a community while still allowing these individuals that turn your stomach that you disagree with with every fiber of who you are to express the same rights that you have, whether you agree with them or not, there are ways to course correct. I don't want these people to exist, but I truly do believe that we need them.

And again, that's not me supporting their cause. It's me saying without the right spark, that fire that will set ablaze the middle ground of this country will never start. And we need it to at some point in time. And for the people out there chanting death to America, if you really believe that, go fucking fight for it. people that I know well from communities that I know very well. They'll meet you there. And you're going to understand what true commitment is. And you're going to come up against a force that you have no idea the capability of.

And I think you probably have some idea of what would happen in that instance. So you don't do it. So you go and you just yell death to America. Who knows what you do with the rest of your day? If you really believe it, go fight for it. And people who have the opposite opinion in you, they're going to meet you there. And you're going to be fucked. But hey, how deeply do you believe?

Second question. Andy, I'm a longtime listener of the podcast. This is the first time I've written in. My question is, how can I best support my husband as he is looking for a new purpose and his next mission? D drastic change of subject and question. Our situation is a bit unique, I think. We've been together for 14 years throughout most of college and several of my career changes. I went from academic to EMS, I'm assuming emergency medical service, to law enforcement, to medical school. Hell of a transition across that spectrum, which is where I am now.

Throughout these 14 years, my husband transitioned from being a premed student himself with aspirations of going to medical school to setting this aside to support me and my goals. And I'm extremely grateful for this support. and I know I would not have been able or I would not have been as successful in my past endeavors as well as my current ones without it. Right now I'm finishing my first year as a medical student and I'm on track to achieve my long time goal of becoming an emergency department physician. My husband helped me sell our house last year, quit his job as an ED, which is emergency department technician, and moved from Michigan to Arkansas with me. He found a job working at a local hospital down here, but does not seem to find it fulfilling and often remarks. about the extremely low pay compared to his old job in Michigan. I know that he is frustrated and with his current job, but he does not seem to be ready to make a change yet. He often reads

inspirational and motivational books that should help him carve out a meaningful mission, but he seems hesitant to make changes. We do not have any children yet and have very few responsibilities outside of maintaining our current standard of living, paying bills, etc. Honestly, we are living off student loans, which is normal for most medical students. I didn't know that. We found an amazing CrossFit community in Arkansas and are working on becoming physically fit again. I would like him to find a hobby, career, or community that is his and does not revolve around me or my goals. Thank you for hanging with me for the length of email, but back to my original question. How should I support him while he is looking for purpose and meaning while we

are living in a new state away from our friends and family working on my career goals? Thank you for your podcast. Thank you for reading my email. I appreciate your advice as someone who has also changed careers a few times in your adult life. Fuck, isn't that an understatement? Something interesting, I'm going to answer your question, but something interesting jumped out to me. He often reads inspirational and motivational books that should help him carve out a meaningful mission, but he seems hesitant to make changes. The motivation and discipline space is a multi-billion dollar industry. And if all it took was motivation and discipline, you would have so many people that are wildly successful, that they find these books or they go find a seminar or a speech

or an organization or an engagement where they're going to listen to a keynote speaker that focuses on motivation and discipline. They would go, they would learn the lesson that they need to and they would apply it in their life and their life would be forever changed. Anecdotally, I have found that to not be the case. What you have find is people who have 20 books on motivation and discipline and they're treading water. They don't know what to do. They have a volume of information and they are either hesitant or don't know how to apply it. You see people going to these events where it's based around motivation and discipline. And they're there for their fourth or fifth or sixth time.

Which if your goal is to spend money, that's a good strategy. if your goal is to educate yourself and level your life up through what you have educated yourself with, do you need to go that many times? Or does it just mean that motivation and discipline, it's not enough? My answer is all of those a little bit. But more than anything, motivation and discipline are great. I think everybody should aspire to be very motivated and very disciplined. But every few months, hundreds of young men defined by their motivation and discipline start seal training.

They express that they've wanted to be a seal for their entire life, that there's nothing that you can do to make them quit, and that they're going to be there on graduation day. They're defined by their motivation. They're defined by their discipline. About 75% of them quit. Maybe it's not enough. What else do you need? I could talk about this for hours. What I'll say is this.

You need to have a strategy and how you set an approach achievement of your goals. I'm not going to get into that any deeper because that's a podcast for another time and I think I've talked about it quite a bit, how I will chunk, set macro goals, and then go micro-focus, chunking my goals, living in the moment or taking the smallest step necessary

and focusing only on the steps, not the totality of the journey. It doesn't surprise me that your husband is in this place where he's hesitant to make change because a lot of people get stuck in that place. They're in neutral for lack of a better term. So what can you do to support him? I think one of the biggest things that wives can do for their husbands, maybe this is going to sound ridiculous, but the impact that this has for me, I struggle to define with my vocabulary, which, in all fairness, is limited.

The impact of my wife wrapping her arms around me and telling me that she loves me, and telling me that she is proud of me, shuts down all of the white noise and bullshit in my life. I think there is this misconception that people are out there and everybody other than you, meaning a person thinking about themselves or me thinking about myself, has their shit dialed, wired. They know exactly what they're doing. Their goals are concrete. The steps they need to take are concrete. And the older I get and the more people that I meet, the more I believe that to be absolutely incorrect.

people are figuring it out on the fly. When you find somebody who has their life completely dialed from A to Z and has known the steps and has their compass calibrated completely and has never struggled or swayed, they are the anomaly. Most people are out there trying to make it through the day. Even wildly successful people that I know deal with levels of uncertainty and stress that they don't think that they can tolerate on their own. and question their abilities and their values and their worth. And as a man, when Leah does those things, when she wraps her arms around me and she tells me that she loves me and tells me that she is proud of me, it helps me dial down all of the bullshit, all of the internal monologue and dialogue that for me can get very negative at times. and I think that that can help so many other people as well. Is that all you can do?

And is that all that you should do? No, that's not what I'm saying at all. But that's an easy one that just about anybody can do. And do not underestimate the impact and power that it can have. My best piece of advice to you is this. Be as supportive as possible and realize it might take some time for both of you to find your feet underneath you and a foundation in this new place. that you are at. So allow for that time. Try not to, you are very busy, right? You are working through your own career path. You have enough pressure on yourself. Try not to put any additional

pressure on your partner. Just like your partner right now shouldn't be trying to put any additional pressure on you. You have a very full plate. Support them the best you can, emotionally and physically, the ways that I already described, be a sounding board and be supportive with not putting a timeline, an ultra-compressed timeline on what you want to see from him. And if you have the ability to do so, help him find and set some goals that will be enriching and rewarding for him. And when you sit down, and this is through a conversation, you know, and it's going to be multiple conversations, not one.

You're not going to sit down with your partner. So lay out your life from me and let me know exactly the things that are going to be enriching and rewarding for you. And we'll just write those out. we'll knock them off the list. If you could have that kind of conversation, fucking spectacular. Go ahead and do that. Most people can't. So maybe sit down and just talk about where do you see yourself in five years and 10 years. This is like back to that macro focus. Put some things down. And if you have the ability, explore those things a little bit. Many times in my life, I've thought I wanted

to do something because of what I thought it was going to be or what it would bring. And early on in the journey, I realized that that wasn't really what was going to happen. So I course corrected. We're completely and guillotined it off because sometimes that's what you need to do. So regardless of what you start with on that, let's talk about a five or ten year horizon or a year, depending on what time of timeline is palatable for you. Talk about that. Get something up there and start moving towards it and allow for some shift in navigation. A little bit of left, a little bit of right, or maybe you nailed it and like, fuck, this is more rewarding than I thought it was going to be. Fullback dive, headfirst, fifth gear, whatever metaphor or analogy works for you and go

at it. Have some structured conversations. Be supportive. That's the best advice that I can give you. How can you best support your new husband? Is literally by doing that physically, mentally, emotionally, well, of course, making sure he is doing the same things for you as well. So I hope that helped you answer the question. Open and honest conversations. Talk about the future. Massive goals. Look for things that you would find fulfillment in. in. Explore them and don't be afraid to change the course as the compass shifts. Number three, totally shifting gears again, too. Over the weekend, there was a mass stabbing in a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia.

As this tragic news sinks in, I have been wondering what the most effective action would be if I found myself in this situation. The only tactic I came up was trying to get to a clothing store and donning multiple heavy coats, jackets, and then looking for a standoff weapon. The problem with this is, I had hindsight, an absence of time. an absence of time pressure and was sitting at my home on my couch, not standing in front of a crazed attacker with a 12-inch knife. Yeah, so you were thinking of these things when you had no imminent threat in your face

as opposed to, surprise, here I am with a 12-inch knife. There's a lot of footage of people taking action, like setting up barricades, using emergency exits, standing their ground for their family, grab it in defensive weapons such as ballards and taking the attacker on. I applaud all of them for making decisions and taking action that helped them survive. My question is, what are a few tactics that could be effective in a similar situation? it would be good to hear a what-if discussion around decision-making. As a side note, there was a knife attack in London a few years ago where the attacker taped the knife to his hand.

This adds a further complication if you decide to confront them. You can't knock it out of their hands. Okay, I'm going to answer this, but let me be very clear. I am not an expert in knife fighting. I know people who practice this sort of thing, and that is responding to somebody who produces an edged weapon. I would point people towards Paul Sharp. He's been on the podcast a few times. I can't remember, of course, off the top of my head, the name of the organization that he works with and help develop curriculum for, but it was literally a defense against edged weapons.

What's the ultimate defense against an edged weapon? I don't know. How about something that shoots a lead projectile at a couple hundred, if not a thousand feet per second? Right at their face. Awesome. Ding, ding, ding. Winner shuts down the problem. I don't care if it's taped with their hand or if it goes flying out of their hand.

I mean, hopefully it doesn't land on a, you know, I'm not. innocent human being, but let's not get too far, though, the tinfoil rabbit hole. Point in all that is, I am not an expert in these situations. I've gone to a couple of Paul's courses. I recommend that people do. Reach out to him directly. He's on Instagram. I think it's Paul Sharp.

SBG. It might have been Paul Sharp 2.0. I don't know. He changes his handle far too much. And by that, I think he's maybe done it one time, but I digress. So there are experts out there. I look at self-defense. It's distances.

The more distance you have, the more time you have to make a decision. If this is happening and you are a great distance away from this, there's an argument towards running towards the attacker. If you want to be that person, there's also an argument from or for running away from the attacker because you're actually not facing an imminent threat and you can control your distance and therefore the threat associated with it. You know, a medium distance where you can see this person and they're coming at you and maybe you have limited options when it comes to movement.

Is layering up in clothing a good idea? I mean, I can't, I'm not going to argue about it. that except for maybe it would limit your mobility. I would probably try to find an external type of weapon like the ballard. I love the idea of braining somebody who's doing a knife attack with a ballard, just beating the ever-living fuck out of them with an object that you find on the ground. Cool. I would rather do that as opposed to have nothing. You know, they say never bring a knife to a gunfight, but if you show at a knife fight and you don't have anything, I think that sucks for you. Especially if you don't know what you're doing. And even if you do know what you're

doing. Let's say you get to a range where you have no choice but to fight. I am going to summarize what I have heard Paul say. You have to get control of the weapon. And by that, you're probably going to have to get control of the hand that the weapon is in. And in doing so, you may get cut. You should expect to get cut. And I'm going to tell you right now, that could be gnarly. But if you ever have somebody who comes at you with a knife, my suggestion is avoid that situation. if at all possible. What I have been taught is this. You need to get a two-on-one grip on the hand that is carrying the weapon. So you have maximal control and ability to move that weapon to the side. There are a variety of things that you can do wrapping up that individual, taking them to the

ground. I'm not even going to attempt to describe those things because I have no business doing so. I've done it a limited amount of time. Probably your best opportunity, in all honesty, in a situation like this is overwhelming the person with the knife. You're still going to have to get control of the edged weapon. And in doing so, in closing that distance and trying to get that two-on-one, or wrapping your arms around them or having multiple people pinning them to the ground, people are going to get cut. Is there a chance you might die?

Yes. Is there a greater chance that people are going to get hurt and injured if you don't do that? Yes, unfortunately, there is. If somebody tapes a knife to their hand, choke them the fuck unconscious. take whatever is above their neck off of their head. I'm not advocating for murder. I'm just saying I would choke somebody as hard as humanly possible. If they are actually out there with a knife, trying to hurt somebody.

And I got to a place, let's say somebody else is holding onto them, or maybe they're on the ground. And I had the ability to choke them unconscious. I would try to rip their fucking head off their neck. But that's just me. You do you. I don't care if it's taped to their hand. If they are unconscious, they're not going to be doing anything. with it. So, you know, you're not going to be able. What you see in the movies, somebody kicks a knife out

of somebody's hand. They bat it out of their hand, not necessarily usually with a bat, but, you know, maybe a ballard as something that you brought up. Those things are unlikely. What is very likely is that hydraulic fluid's going to be everywhere. People are going to get cut, but your best chance for survival is actually to get a hold of that hand carrying the edged weapon, controlled as much as possible. and I would hope in an environment where somebody is willing to do that and they go in and get some level of control that other people would come in and help because that's really what's going to tip the scales. Having said that, most people will avoid violence as much as humanly possible. And that's their choice. You know, live your life however you want to.

Train and be competent in violence if you want to. Totally your choice. But you might find yourself in a place where you really wish you would have. And then the consequences of that or the outcome are no longer in your control because you didn't put in the work. on the front end to control the output on the back end. Decision making, specifically, again, distances. I would make my decision based off of the distance. If I had my family with me as well, that's a different decision.

We're getting out of a car in a parking lot at a mall and you hear something like this is happening. Get back in your car and get out of there, of course, call the authorities. They're probably being overwhelmed at that point by calls, but you still try to call. You put into a place where distance is a medium level and you're going to you have to make a choice between flight or fright. Fight or flight. There you go.

What did I say prefer? Flight or fright? You know what I mean. You're either going to fight or you're going to get the fuck out of there. Again, how much distance do you have? How much time do you have? Are you by your own? Are you by yourself or are you with your family?

These things all play in. I'm not going to tell you how you should answer those questions because people need to think about these things on their own. But as the distance gets closer, your ability to make decisions from a perspective of time compression is going to decrease and decrease and decrease. If it gets to the place where the person is right in front of you and they're trying to do you harm, your best course of action is get control of the edge weapon. And again, by that I mean likely the hand that is holding it.

And you're going to have to fight for your life. Edge weapons work by coming across skin, a slicing or sawing motion or stabbing motion. You need to prevent them from doing that. Hopefully other people would come in and to assist you. and hopefully you, if you saw somebody else doing that, would assist them as well. And maybe move to a country that allows for concealed carry because there is some truth to not bringing a knife to a gunfight. That's all I have for this Friday. See you all later.