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Music.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Self-Initiative Project Podcast.

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I’m your host, Jim O’Brien.

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Hello and welcome to episode 28. Today we’re going to talk about managing your

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personal safety during a pandemic.

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You know, with this COVID-19, things seem crazy around the world today, don’t they?

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2020 has been probably the strangest year in my lifetime And not to date myself,

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but this is probably the most bizarre situation I’ve found myself in in my lifetime Yeah, sure,

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we’ve been through some wars overseas And there was the space shuttle explosion

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back in the day But this is by far the strangest of times And it remains to

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be seen where it’s all going,

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And so, you know, if you’ve been following us here at the Self-Initiative Project for any time at all,

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hopefully you’ve come to realize that our premise, our whole entire premise

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was built on the fact that we believe your personal safety and preparedness

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is your responsibility.

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And, you know, in the spirit of talking about the pandemic, we’re going to extend

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that to say your health is your responsibility as well.

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And we just wanted to take a moment and do this quick podcast on what it means

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looking after yourself from a personal safety perspective during something like a pandemic.

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And, you know, a lot of the things that we’re going to talk about are not necessarily

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driven directly by a pandemic or COVID-19.

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There are certainly things that have come to the forefront in light of current

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circumstances, but that they’re, I should say, it’s not necessarily that they’re

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all driven by the pandemic.

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It’s just that some of them have come to surface and been or changed what they mean for us.

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So we’re not going to talk about washing your hands and wearing a mask and staying six feet apart.

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New terms been coined like social distancing. You know, if you haven’t been

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living under a rock, those subjects, those topics have been talked about ad nauseum.

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We wanted to really spend more time talking about your personal safety and things

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to be aware of and the vigilance that you should employ for yourself and your

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family and your loved ones.

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So, you know, I’m a big proponent of, you know, even if you’re not into self-defense

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or carrying a gun for self-defense,

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you know, whatever the topic, one of the things that I do think that we can

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do is learn basic first aid and basic trauma.

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You know, severe bleeding, hemorrhaging

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is the number one cause of preventative deaths in trauma cases.

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And so if we all just learned how to use some gauze for applying pressure or

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stuffing a wound or using a tourniquet, more importantly, a lot of deaths could

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be prevented otherwise.

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So, you know, it’s just food for thought for you.

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It’s a little off topic, but very much germane to the conversation.

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You know, if you’re not prepared to do anything else, first aid and basic trauma

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is something that you and your family can very easily learn.

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First aid is offered, basic first aid is offered through a number of organizations.

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And there’s a fantastic free program. As far as I know, it’s still free.

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You can find out about it through your police department, your fire department,

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medical entities or hospitals. It’s called Stop the Bleed. I can’t highly recommend

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it enough. I highly recommend it.

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It’s fantastic for learning the basics of what to do with severe bleeding and

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how to, most importantly, how to use a tourniquet.

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So I’m going to start with that. Get out there and get yourself some training

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and know that stuff, if nothing else.

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So I wanted to talk to you a little bit today about scams that are occurring

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right now. And scams go on all the time, right?

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Whether it’s by text. Now I’m even starting to get scams via text, phone calls, or emails.

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Scams continue to be on the rise, and sometimes they just change their face a little bit.

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Like I can remember back in the mid-late 90s getting emails from the entities

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that appeared to be out of Nigeria saying, you know, they had some prints of

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something, had $14 million,

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and if I allowed them to deposit it into my bank account, they’d leave behind

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two and a half million or whatever it is.

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You know, that’s one of the oldest scams I can think of off the top of my head.

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And it must work because as far as I know, they’re still doing it today.

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But scams and everything else have gotten, criminals have gotten so much more sophisticated today.

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There’s a lot of things to be on the lookout for, unfortunately.

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And, you know, there’s targeted groups, both children and I also think the elderly

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are a targeted group because they’re not necessarily as technologically savvy

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and aren’t aware of these sorts of scams.

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Two fantastic sources of information to learn more about scams and what’s going

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on with this pandemic is the FBI.gov website, as well as the FTC or the Federal

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Trade Commission.gov website.

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Both of them have a lot of information on scams and what we as consumers should be on the lookout for.

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So, you know, some of this is what I’m talking to today is going to be found

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both on the FBI and the FTC websites, just to give you a heads up there.

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And I encourage you to go out and learn more for yourself.

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If nothing else, you can talk to possibly your older parents.

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So talking about scams, there are some scams.

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According to the FTC, there are some scams that have come out specifically,

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you know, having to do with the pandemic and Corona-19.

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And one of them is based around this new job that’s kind of come about with

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this pandemic, and it’s a job position

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that people take on called contact tracers, being a contact tracer.

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And basically what these individuals do is anybody that’s been suspected of

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being in contact with someone that’s sick,

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known to be sick, or if an individual is known to be sick, has been tested and

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diagnosed and definitely has COVID-19,

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a contact tracer’s job is to.

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Remain in contact on a regular basis with that individual and keep track of

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their health data with them.

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And typically it’s done over the phone and whatnot. And one of the scams,

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I guess, that’s come about now is that there are criminals that are, you know,

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moving that conversation from health into money or personal finance situations

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and discussions and probably asking for money or otherwise in one shape, form or fashion.

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And that should never happen. So if you or a loved one find yourself sick or

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know for a fact you’ve been in contact with someone that’s been sick,

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just know that a contact tracer could come into play for you.

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These people are just there to keep track of your health data because we’re

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still learning about all this, right?

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So it’s a very valuable position, but they should never be asking you about money.

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So that’s first and foremost. And a lot of this is what I’m going to talk about.

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You can find out these and more at the Federal Trade Commission’s website, again, at ftc.gov.

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The government supposedly will never text or email you or call you about checks

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from the government. So I know we’ve all gotten by now at least one stimulus

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check from the government.

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Supposedly, there’s never really any communication about that.

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So, you know, if you get contacted about your check, it’s likely a scam.

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I know for me, when I got what little bit of stimulus I got,

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they made a direct deposit into my account and didn’t even tell me.

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I literally logged into my bank account one weekend and saw the money in there.

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There are no, there should be no conversations about vaccinations or home test kits.

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Again to my knowledge we still have

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not developed vaccination supposedly it

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might be getting somewhat close even though developing vaccinations

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take some time especially if you do it the right way

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no one should be contacting you or reaching out to you about a vaccination and

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by that by that token there should be no one reaching out to you about test

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kits home test kits because nothing’s been approved for home testing by the

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fda or otherwise so those are some definite red flags to you.

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And no one should be contacting you claiming to be from the CDC or the World

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Health Organization, the WHO.

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You can go to those sites, those entities, and learn whatever you’re there to

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learn. But no one from those two primary entities should be contacting you directly.

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Just know if they do. It’s likely some sort of scam.

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And look, this last tip that the FTC reminds us about is about robocallers.

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Honestly, robocallers have little to nothing to do with the pandemic directly per se.

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The types of calls may have changed or might be increasing because of COVID-19,

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but robocallers is something you should be aware of in general. And look.

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The best policy is if you don’t recognize the number, don’t answer it.

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But certainly if you answer a phone call and there’s a pause.

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In other words, those are typically, they’re all on auto dialers and they usually

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pause until a live operator can be available to talk to you.

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Or generally there’ll be an automated robo message start and delivered when you answer.

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You should hang up on any robo call, any of those types of calls.

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You should hang up on, especially the robocallers.

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A lot of these guys do two things that are kind of shady.

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One, they ignore the federal do not call list, and you can’t report them because

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they’re constantly changing their phone numbers.

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But you know these robocalls are bogus because they’re calling you even though

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you might be on the do not call list. And I highly recommend putting yourself

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on that if you haven’t yet anyway.

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But that’s one of the ways we know these robocallers and the like are bogus

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because they ignore that list.

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And again, my personal policy is, is if I don’t recognize the number or if I

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don’t have it saved in my contact list on my smartphone, I just don’t answer it.

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Look, if it’s important or if it’s somebody I know, they’re going to leave me

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a voicemail. So I don’t need to answer it.

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And a lot of times for the last two or three years now, I’ve been getting a

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ton of robocalls. So I just know not to answer them.

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I know what to look for. And so, you know, look for those long pauses at the

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beginning of the call if you do happen to pick up and say hello.

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And certainly any automated message that starts

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and they’ll use both male and female voices so

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you never know but it’s an automated thing and you can tell matter of fact you

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can even talk and they just keep going so you know it’s automated you should

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be hanging up on those immediately and you know i don’t get any kickbacks on

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this i mention it because i’ve i use it and i’ve been using it for about a year

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and a half now, and I found it extremely effective.

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There’s an app that I think is available for both iPhone and Android smartphones,

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and it’s called RoboKiller.

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And I think it’s like a seven, 14 day free trial, seven day free trial.

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And then after that, it’s about $25 every 12 months. And it is the best program

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because let me tell you, it’ll block just about anything that you don’t already

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have saved in your contact list.

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And I know for some that’s not necessarily a great thing, but the nice thing

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is about this app, one of the many nice things about this app is if someone

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does get caught up in it, you can go in and say, no, no, allow this phone number.

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But I would recommend RoboKiller. It has done a really good job in blocking

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those sorts of robocalls for me or any type of call that’s not in my contact list, honestly.

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Additionally, the FBI has some specific concerns, and again,

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you can go learn more at the FBI.gov, FBI.gov.

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There’s evidently an uptick of crimes against children, and specifically it

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has to do with technology.

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You know, a lot of us are working from home.

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I shouldn’t say we all are. Some of us have jobs and have to go in.

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But a lot of us are working from home, myself included.

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I think we just completed week 21 of working from home, over five months of

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working from home now. And we were told just a few weeks ago that we’re going

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to be working from home through the end of the year. So, you know, a lot of folks are home.

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And a lot of kids are still out of school now

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whether or not they go back this fall for you and

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your area remains to be seen right or maybe

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they are but right now kids were certainly

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out of school at least a chunk of the year last year and they’ve

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been out of school normal for the summer but you know so things have changed

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right things have changed for everything everyone not just children but adults

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in their professional careers too and one of the technologies that we may find

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ourselves using more of is chat, uh,

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video chat clients or video conferencing tools.

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And I won’t mention any of them, but you’re probably familiar of them,

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especially if you have a job where they’re employed, but kids are using these,

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some of these too, so they can remain in contact with their school buddies or

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their friends living down the street.

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You know, not everybody’s comfortable going over to each other’s house and hanging out.

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So a lot of kids and adults, for that matter, too, are having video chat sessions

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with their friends so that they don’t have to meet together during these times.

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And, you know, there’s been a couple of these tools that have been deemed insecure

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or unsafe, and I think those companies have worked to make themselves safer.

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But there are some tips that you should follow when you know your kids are using

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these, and you should be willing to have very open, frank conversations about

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your children when they use these tools.

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So the first is, if it’s possible, they should password protect any video chat

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session that they set up for themselves and their friends. That’s first and foremost.

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And one of the biggest things that they can do is just not share their video

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chat session out with the entire world.

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Like, don’t share that link because they typically all have links and or phone

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numbers, generally both associated with them.

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Don’t share that link to that chat session that’s been set up out on social

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media and where the masses can get to it, right?

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Because what’s happening evidently, as the FBI reports, is there’s an uptick

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on people trying to lure children into, you know, potential trafficked situations.

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Meeting them, sexual content.

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They’re pushing through photos and videos of the sexual nature to through to

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these open, unprotected chat sessions. And so it’s very important that we keep

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these things locked down.

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And it’s very important that we

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have conversations with our children about what to do and what not to do.

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And two, if they do see something, what to do in that case, who to report it to.

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And, you know, you should be willing to have that frank, honest conversation with your kids.

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The other thing that’s on the uptick with the FBI are obviously,

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and again, it’s normal day-to-day stuff for scammers, right,

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and criminals, but there’s an uptick in financial-related scams, right?

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And it’s mostly centered around unemployment and then a legit government program

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called the Paycheck Protection Program, evidently, and you can read more about

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this on the FBI’s website.

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And there are criminals that

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are trying to take advantage and solicit funds for

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these programs criminals are even establishing bogus businesses to collect the

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government stimulus and programs that they’ve set up for small businesses there’s

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all kinds of shadiness going on there and and and even criminals that are trying to,

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collect unemployment based on stolen ID theft.

00:16:35.114 –> 00:16:38.874
And the other thing that the FBI talks about is money mules, right?

00:16:38.994 –> 00:16:42.574
If you’ve been asked to pass money through your account, keep money in your

00:16:42.574 –> 00:16:46.374
account, and then send it through, generally they’ll offer you some sort of

00:16:46.374 –> 00:16:47.574
commission for doing that.

00:16:47.834 –> 00:16:51.934
Just know if you’re involved in something similar where money’s passing through

00:16:51.934 –> 00:16:57.234
your account, even by somebody you know, because they may not even realize they’re

00:16:57.234 –> 00:16:58.694
involved in a criminal activity.

00:16:58.934 –> 00:17:03.394
But just so you know, this whole money mule thing is a criminal act.

00:17:03.514 –> 00:17:05.814
It’s basically a way of money laundering.

00:17:06.074 –> 00:17:10.494
And, you know, like you hear all the time, ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

00:17:11.254 –> 00:17:16.474
So there’s a few things for you to go out, like I said, to the FBI and the FTC

00:17:16.474 –> 00:17:19.754
are great resources and learn. I encourage you to go learn more.

00:17:20.374 –> 00:17:26.254
You know, when it comes to scams. I have some personal approaches,

00:17:26.654 –> 00:17:30.874
philosophies, whatever that I’ll share with you now in this time frame.

00:17:31.074 –> 00:17:37.034
So when it comes to texts, look, I shouldn’t be getting texts from anybody that I don’t know.

00:17:37.494 –> 00:17:42.014
So unless I sign up at a restaurant to let me know when my table’s ready,

00:17:42.734 –> 00:17:47.694
if I don’t recognize a number or a name isn’t associated with a text I receive,

00:17:47.954 –> 00:17:49.854
which means it’s got to be saved in my phone.

00:17:49.994 –> 00:17:55.874
I shouldn’t be getting texts or a whole lot of texts from unrecognizable numbers, right?

00:17:56.294 –> 00:18:01.054
So those texts, and I have gotten a few here lately, so I can say that in the

00:18:01.054 –> 00:18:03.754
last three months, those have been on the uptick.

00:18:04.054 –> 00:18:08.094
Not that I get a lot of them, but I have gotten several texts that I don’t know

00:18:08.094 –> 00:18:09.094
who they’re coming from.

00:18:09.234 –> 00:18:13.294
That’s just random phone numbers, and they’re probably bogus phone numbers.

00:18:13.294 –> 00:18:14.514
I delete them immediately.

00:18:14.734 –> 00:18:18.314
Don’t respond to that. If you don’t know who it is or if it’s not somebody you

00:18:18.314 –> 00:18:22.594
know or you’re expecting a text from delete it be done with it move on.

00:18:23.662 –> 00:18:28.042
Talking about phone calls, again, you know, in context of robocalls,

00:18:28.222 –> 00:18:29.462
you shouldn’t be accepting those.

00:18:29.662 –> 00:18:32.422
As soon as you figure out it’s an automated thing, hang up on it,

00:18:32.482 –> 00:18:36.382
because if it’s a robocall, it’s completely bogus, and that’s just my rule.

00:18:36.382 –> 00:18:40.482
There might be something legitimate out there trying to get me on the phone

00:18:40.482 –> 00:18:44.262
and keep me on the phone a couple of minutes before a live operator can come on.

00:18:44.882 –> 00:18:49.162
If it’s an automated message that starts playing for me, or if there’s a pause

00:18:49.162 –> 00:18:52.422
at the beginning of the call, if I do happen to answer it, I know immediately

00:18:52.422 –> 00:18:55.482
it’s bogus and I’m personally hanging up and that’s what I do.

00:18:55.482 –> 00:19:00.002
As far as emails, you know, scammers and criminals have gotten,

00:19:00.282 –> 00:19:03.222
I don’t want to say smart because I don’t know that all criminals are super

00:19:03.222 –> 00:19:06.442
smart, but let’s just say they’ve gotten more sophisticated,

00:19:06.442 –> 00:19:11.202
especially when it comes to email scams and attacks, if you will.

00:19:11.362 –> 00:19:15.302
And so, you know, things are starting to look more legitimate.

00:19:15.582 –> 00:19:19.422
You know, they may even have a company’s or your bank’s logo in the body of

00:19:19.422 –> 00:19:22.902
the email. The subject line might seem legit.

00:19:23.522 –> 00:19:27.382
But generally, there’s some telltale signs. Something’s off,

00:19:27.542 –> 00:19:29.822
like the email doesn’t quite look right.

00:19:30.542 –> 00:19:34.922
You know, the way that they address you in that email, because you’ve probably

00:19:34.922 –> 00:19:38.342
gotten emails from your banking institution or whoever else prior,

00:19:38.702 –> 00:19:44.262
you know, the intro, dear so-and-so, hello, Mike, whatever it is,

00:19:44.382 –> 00:19:47.482
that might look off. There’s generally some telltale signs.

00:19:47.662 –> 00:19:49.962
Might be broken English in the body of the email.

00:19:51.318 –> 00:19:54.798
You should never, ever, ever, I don’t care,

00:19:55.698 –> 00:20:00.658
ever click on a link in an email that you’re uncertain who sent it to you or

00:20:00.658 –> 00:20:06.318
you’re not 100 and, well, there’s only such thing as 100%, but you know what I’m saying.

00:20:06.518 –> 00:20:12.818
If you’re not 100% of where that email came from, you should never click on a link in that.

00:20:13.018 –> 00:20:16.978
As a matter of fact, some emails can maliciously launch things on your local

00:20:16.978 –> 00:20:19.318
machines without you even opening the email.

00:20:19.318 –> 00:20:23.978
So most of the time, if you recognize something that’s off, or you’re not expecting

00:20:23.978 –> 00:20:28.238
an email, or if it doesn’t look just right, go ahead and delete it.

00:20:28.618 –> 00:20:32.298
But let’s just say you decide to open the email.

00:20:32.518 –> 00:20:35.758
You should never click on the link. And one of the things that you can kind

00:20:35.758 –> 00:20:40.798
of tell that makes it a bogus email is if you hover over the link,

00:20:41.058 –> 00:20:47.438
generally speaking, your browser is going to show you the URL where that link is going to take you.

00:20:47.438 –> 00:20:52.458
And even if everything else in that email looks kind of spot on,

00:20:52.578 –> 00:20:55.978
like they’re using the company logo, they’ve said, hi, Jim,

00:20:56.218 –> 00:21:01.938
whatever it is, if you hover over a link and it has some kind of funky URL in

00:21:01.938 –> 00:21:08.738
it, or it’s not anything close to the URL of the entity that is claiming to have sent you the email,

00:21:08.998 –> 00:21:12.758
you know, it’s bogus, it’s a scam, and you should delete it immediately.

00:21:13.498 –> 00:21:18.418
But the other thing that you should do is if there’s ever doubt,

00:21:18.638 –> 00:21:21.898
you’re expecting something, if you’re not sure this is it or not,

00:21:22.078 –> 00:21:27.418
nothing says that you can’t contact that entity or that individual directly

00:21:27.418 –> 00:21:29.618
and ask them, hey, did you send this to me?

00:21:29.718 –> 00:21:32.218
Hey, are you asking me for this? Blah, blah, blah.

00:21:33.038 –> 00:21:37.438
It’s important not to use the email that the email was sent to you from.

00:21:37.538 –> 00:21:41.718
And it’s important for you not to call the number that’s in the email that’s

00:21:41.718 –> 00:21:45.198
sent to you. If it’s someone that you work with, like your bank,

00:21:45.278 –> 00:21:48.458
for example, or your mortgage company or your health provider.

00:21:49.166 –> 00:21:53.466
You should have their number in your records or be able to quickly look it up

00:21:53.466 –> 00:21:57.306
through a Google search or the phone book, whatever it is you use,

00:21:57.426 –> 00:21:59.786
and call them directly or email

00:21:59.786 –> 00:22:03.626
them through your email account with the email you last used for them.

00:22:03.726 –> 00:22:08.266
If it’s legit, you probably already have it in your system. But if it’s not, it’s okay.

00:22:08.486 –> 00:22:11.746
Delete it and then look to call them and confirm what they’re doing.

00:22:11.766 –> 00:22:13.686
That’s the easiest and best practice.

00:22:13.886 –> 00:22:18.346
But never click on any links that you’re not sure where they’re from,

00:22:18.506 –> 00:22:24.006
and you can go to the extreme of calling them or emailing them directly on your

00:22:24.006 –> 00:22:29.206
own away from that email you’ve received to confirm whether or not that email is legit or not.

00:22:29.386 –> 00:22:32.906
If you just follow those basics, you’ll be a lot safer.

00:22:33.526 –> 00:22:36.486
Let’s talk about 911. Now,

00:22:36.666 –> 00:22:42.066
I recently went online and tried to do some research for my local county law

00:22:42.066 –> 00:22:47.006
enforcement here where I live and I couldn’t find any current statistics to

00:22:47.006 –> 00:22:52.606
find out what their response times were averaging and see any trends over the last couple of years,

00:22:52.786 –> 00:22:56.586
over the last several months to see if it’s actually gone up or not.

00:22:56.726 –> 00:23:01.106
But I’m just going to throw this out there and you guys, you know,

00:23:01.446 –> 00:23:02.806
take from it what you will.

00:23:02.986 –> 00:23:08.366
I think there’s two primary things that we probably can expect or have seen

00:23:08.366 –> 00:23:11.166
with 911 since this pandemic went on.

00:23:11.266 –> 00:23:15.606
And the first one is, is that they’re not answering all the calls anymore.

00:23:15.606 –> 00:23:19.566
We’ve heard that a few times, or at least I have, they’re not answering what

00:23:19.566 –> 00:23:21.046
they might have once before.

00:23:22.106 –> 00:23:25.126
I remember on kind of a sidebar note,

00:23:25.286 –> 00:23:30.406
I remember the very first ride along I went on with a local county law enforcement

00:23:30.406 –> 00:23:34.266
agency, The first 911 call we received,

00:23:34.426 –> 00:23:40.546
like literally had not been in the car five, 10 minutes yet on route in our area.

00:23:40.626 –> 00:23:46.746
We got a 911 call and to make a long story short, it was a guy at a fast food.

00:23:46.926 –> 00:23:51.886
Well, probably not fast food, but a sandwich shop was mad because the manager

00:23:51.886 –> 00:23:57.566
would not refund him his money on the sandwich that she was making for him. He didn’t like it.

00:23:57.686 –> 00:24:00.646
He didn’t like the manager’s attitude. He asked for a refund.

00:24:00.646 –> 00:24:02.686
She refused. He called 911.

00:24:03.146 –> 00:24:09.946
My first experience riding along with local cops, my first 911 call had to deal

00:24:09.946 –> 00:24:13.506
with someone not getting a refund on a sandwich.

00:24:14.499 –> 00:24:20.439
I suspect during all this, law enforcement are probably not responding to those

00:24:20.439 –> 00:24:22.239
sorts of calls at this point in time.

00:24:22.659 –> 00:24:27.859
Typically, law enforcement, as I understand, has to respond to any 911 call

00:24:27.859 –> 00:24:31.219
because they never know what’s going on, you know, because the person that’s

00:24:31.219 –> 00:24:33.399
calling may be in duress and makes up the story.

00:24:33.579 –> 00:24:38.339
So their policy is to respond to every 911 call they receive.

00:24:38.339 –> 00:24:43.819
I think a lot of entities, and I’m not entirely sure what my county’s policies

00:24:43.819 –> 00:24:48.519
are at present, but I can tell you I see a lot fewer police cars on the road, it seems,

00:24:48.679 –> 00:24:54.819
so they must be off only handling the important things like murders and rapes and robberies.

00:24:54.819 –> 00:25:00.659
You can bet that 911 service has changed during this time.

00:25:01.059 –> 00:25:06.699
The law enforcement officers are concerned about contracting COVID-19 as they should be.

00:25:06.919 –> 00:25:09.819
They have health concerns too, right, for themselves.

00:25:10.039 –> 00:25:14.039
They also don’t want to be intermingling with a lot of people on the road who

00:25:14.039 –> 00:25:18.579
might have COVID-19 because like every other time in their life,

00:25:18.759 –> 00:25:20.919
they’re putting themselves at risk on their jobs.

00:25:21.279 –> 00:25:25.699
So you can expect likely that they’re not going to respond to things they may

00:25:25.699 –> 00:25:27.499
have before all this went down.

00:25:27.719 –> 00:25:31.879
And if they do respond, it’s probably going to take every bit as much time,

00:25:32.059 –> 00:25:34.639
if not more, for them to respond. So what does that mean?

00:25:35.119 –> 00:25:38.539
That means you have to be prepared for them not to respond to you.

00:25:38.679 –> 00:25:42.639
So what’s the incident you’re calling for? And how long is it going to take

00:25:42.639 –> 00:25:45.439
if they’re going to respond to get to you? Are you prepared?

00:25:45.699 –> 00:25:49.219
And And that’s why I started off this whole thing talking about the importance

00:25:49.219 –> 00:25:52.219
of knowing basic first aid and trauma, because if nothing else,

00:25:52.239 –> 00:25:55.519
if you know those skills, if you have those basic skill sets,

00:25:56.239 –> 00:25:59.639
you might be better off than if you didn’t have them, especially knowing that

00:25:59.639 –> 00:26:04.639
911’s not responding the way they have necessarily in the past.

00:26:05.519 –> 00:26:10.259
Another topic, which again, I can’t say how much on the rise it is with the

00:26:10.259 –> 00:26:15.079
likes of COVID-19 and this pandemic we find ourselves in the midst of right now,

00:26:15.868 –> 00:26:20.008
But, you know, there has been some rioting and reports of rioting and looting

00:26:20.008 –> 00:26:23.668
out there and, you know, general civil unrest, and rightfully so.

00:26:23.868 –> 00:26:27.568
People are stressed. People are concerned for their well-being.

00:26:28.028 –> 00:26:31.468
There’s a lot of, or at least the news would have you believe,

00:26:31.508 –> 00:26:36.208
there’s a lot of incidents with law enforcement maybe not doing the right thing.

00:26:36.208 –> 00:26:40.908
And, you know, I’m not going to go too far down that rabbit hole,

00:26:41.048 –> 00:26:46.968
but no matter, the populace is at least a little bit concerned about having

00:26:46.968 –> 00:26:50.288
to deal with rioting and looting and civil unrest.

00:26:50.288 –> 00:26:52.588
So there’s some things you should know with that.

00:26:53.348 –> 00:26:58.128
And, you know, I guess it was about four or five weeks ago.

00:26:58.128 –> 00:27:03.608
Now, I went to dinner with a friend in a city near me, and there were protesters

00:27:03.608 –> 00:27:09.248
on the corner right 10 yards from the door of the restaurant we went to.

00:27:09.428 –> 00:27:14.428
And, you know, it was what I would classify seemingly as peaceful protesting, right?

00:27:14.568 –> 00:27:19.528
Like what should be happening, and that’s exercising our constitutional rights, right?

00:27:19.748 –> 00:27:22.448
It’s not rioting. It’s not robbing from each other.

00:27:22.568 –> 00:27:25.188
It’s not those sorts of things. And I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole

00:27:25.188 –> 00:27:30.568
because I’ve got a big soapbox with that. But when you find yourself in those

00:27:30.568 –> 00:27:35.028
situations, you want to exercise vigilance, probably more so than normal,

00:27:35.068 –> 00:27:36.688
because you never know what’s going to happen.

00:27:36.888 –> 00:27:41.368
That peaceful protest could erupt into something nasty, or it could just be

00:27:41.368 –> 00:27:46.448
a bystander walking by or driving by that stops and gets out and starts raising

00:27:46.448 –> 00:27:50.148
cane and makes a fuss and create something that it didn’t start out.

00:27:50.268 –> 00:27:57.328
You never know. So I don’t think this pandemic necessarily is causing riots

00:27:57.328 –> 00:28:01.568
directly, but there’s certainly it’s certainly on the top of people’s minds,

00:28:01.688 –> 00:28:04.808
at least some people’s minds, some percentage of the population.

00:28:04.808 –> 00:28:07.908
So I want to talk about rioting for a moment.

00:28:08.008 –> 00:28:11.648
And again, I’m not suggesting that COVID-19 is causing rioting.

00:28:12.348 –> 00:28:16.708
Although it may have in some areas, but we know that rioting is going on out there, right?

00:28:16.928 –> 00:28:21.648
And certainly more recently, and most of it centered around or at least focused

00:28:21.648 –> 00:28:23.368
on law enforcement or similar.

00:28:23.608 –> 00:28:30.048
So, you know, my general approach to things like that is avoidance, if I can, at all costs.

00:28:30.208 –> 00:28:34.468
And so, well, first thing I’m going to do is if I know that rioting is a possibility,

00:28:34.468 –> 00:28:37.768
I’m going to do some research. If I know I’m taking a trip or going somewhere,

00:28:37.908 –> 00:28:41.388
I’m going to be doing some research to find out if there’s any civil unrest

00:28:41.388 –> 00:28:42.788
in that area. I’m going to.

00:28:42.968 –> 00:28:46.388
And if there is, I’m probably going to postpone, right?

00:28:46.628 –> 00:28:51.208
Unless I absolutely have to get down there, right? I’m probably going to postpone

00:28:51.208 –> 00:28:52.668
and avoid that situation.

00:28:53.068 –> 00:28:56.328
And look, I’m just going to throw these things out, which is a theme for the

00:28:56.328 –> 00:28:58.808
next couple of topics that I want to talk on here today.

00:28:59.068 –> 00:29:03.268
I think the two things that’ll get you further more safely than anything else,

00:29:03.388 –> 00:29:07.508
especially when it comes to confronting others or large groups of people or

00:29:07.508 –> 00:29:12.068
even individuals in these times is one, the practice of avoidance,

00:29:12.228 –> 00:29:13.868
avoidance and getting away.

00:29:14.088 –> 00:29:19.508
And the second one, especially for guys is keep that ego in check.

00:29:19.568 –> 00:29:24.048
And we’ll talk more about this here in a minute, but I want to focus on writing.

00:29:24.228 –> 00:29:28.408
And so, you know, the first step is find out, you know, you know where you’re going and.

00:29:29.137 –> 00:29:32.637
And so if you learn that there’s something going on, you may need to make the

00:29:32.637 –> 00:29:36.357
decision not to do it at that time, right? And that’s probably the best option.

00:29:36.617 –> 00:29:42.457
Now, there’s two other things that could happen. One, you find yourself having to go into a situation.

00:29:42.617 –> 00:29:49.117
Or two, you’re in an area and something, civil unrest suddenly erupts. What do you do?

00:29:49.757 –> 00:29:53.377
Well, if you’re situationally aware, your head’s on a swivel,

00:29:53.557 –> 00:29:58.097
you’re staying frosty, you’re paying attention, you want to avoid it.

00:29:58.097 –> 00:30:03.137
And if you can catch it soon enough, even if it turns out to be nothing,

00:30:03.337 –> 00:30:05.297
the best thing you can do is get out of there, right?

00:30:05.377 –> 00:30:09.097
We’ve talked about that before. And I highly recommend going back and listening

00:30:09.097 –> 00:30:14.617
to some of our other podcasts about mindset and personal safety and doing the right thing.

00:30:14.757 –> 00:30:20.117
But avoidance and getting away, getting away is your number one self-defense

00:30:20.117 –> 00:30:22.037
move, right? We’ve talked about that before.

00:30:22.157 –> 00:30:26.357
And so that’s very true here. But if you find yourself having to go into an

00:30:26.357 –> 00:30:31.937
area, which probably is pretty rare right now, because typically if there’s rioting,

00:30:32.137 –> 00:30:35.877
known rioting and looting, no one’s intentionally going to that area except

00:30:35.877 –> 00:30:37.777
first responders, hopefully.

00:30:38.137 –> 00:30:43.257
But let’s say you’re down at the baseball game or whatever on a weekend and

00:30:43.257 –> 00:30:47.877
suddenly something erupts in that crowd. Well, again, your first thing is to

00:30:47.877 –> 00:30:51.717
be paying attention so you recognize it early enough so you can get away.

00:30:52.317 –> 00:30:55.957
And you know that’s your best that’s

00:30:55.957 –> 00:30:59.357
your best bet and look if you can’t get back to your car you

00:30:59.357 –> 00:31:04.037
want to find a business that’s open meaning that you can get in and you know

00:31:04.037 –> 00:31:09.737
as some entities point out you probably want to avoid the police station ironically

00:31:09.737 –> 00:31:14.697
sometimes you want to go to the police station right but case of today for example

00:31:14.697 –> 00:31:18.077
with all the uprising against some law enforcement.

00:31:18.997 –> 00:31:21.517
Going to a police station may not be your best bet.

00:31:22.404 –> 00:31:26.684
If it’s the only thing around, if it’s close enough by, it might be okay,

00:31:26.684 –> 00:31:30.604
but you have to realize you might be setting yourself up to have to deal with

00:31:30.604 –> 00:31:31.844
even more if you go there.

00:31:32.604 –> 00:31:36.484
Fast food restaurants are evidently another one that you’ve got to avoid because

00:31:36.484 –> 00:31:37.984
they’re typically targeted, right?

00:31:38.124 –> 00:31:41.564
And this is where you get into the looting and breaking of glass and all that.

00:31:41.664 –> 00:31:46.324
So you want to find a neutral business, some corporate business downtown,

00:31:46.324 –> 00:31:50.864
which should be easy enough, something, and then, you know, stay away from the

00:31:50.864 –> 00:31:55.084
glass, obviously. But rioting and looting generally take place out on the street.

00:31:55.284 –> 00:31:58.124
And as long as you’re avoiding the glass windows and whatnot,

00:31:58.144 –> 00:32:01.184
you’re probably safer in that building than you are away.

00:32:01.844 –> 00:32:04.884
If you’re in your car, you want to try to get out.

00:32:05.024 –> 00:32:07.724
If you get stuck in your car, you know you’re coming into a situation.

00:32:07.724 –> 00:32:10.904
You want to avoid those large crowds, right?

00:32:11.004 –> 00:32:15.084
You want to find the earliest point that you can turn down the street to get you out of there.

00:32:15.584 –> 00:32:19.504
If there’s no one behind you, you might want to throw your car in reverse and

00:32:19.504 –> 00:32:21.584
back up to a street that you can get on.

00:32:21.724 –> 00:32:25.384
Or you might just need to do a UE in the turn and get out.

00:32:25.624 –> 00:32:29.944
The last thing you want to do is drive through a crowd in an aggressive manner.

00:32:30.144 –> 00:32:33.084
You know, there’s been some instances of people getting hurt and killed,

00:32:33.264 –> 00:32:36.224
being run over with cars for a number of different reasons.

00:32:36.244 –> 00:32:40.704
But pertaining to rioting and looting, you know, that’s not a good place to find yourself in.

00:32:40.704 –> 00:32:44.724
And look, you know, if you get trapped in a crowd or there’s a crowd around

00:32:44.724 –> 00:32:50.184
you and your car is your go-to safe space, you might be best off just rolling up the windows.

00:32:50.964 –> 00:32:54.644
Locking, certainly locking the doors and then keeping your mouth shut and not

00:32:54.644 –> 00:32:58.504
showing any signs of aggression whatsoever. And hopefully it’ll pass, right?

00:32:58.844 –> 00:33:03.604
Probably call 911, even though they’re tied up and likely already aware of the situation.

00:33:03.944 –> 00:33:09.884
It just is what it is, which is why it’s so key to avoid them to begin with, if at all possible.

00:33:10.564 –> 00:33:13.424
But if you can’t get to your car, you can’t get to your car.

00:33:13.644 –> 00:33:17.304
Get you and your family away. And, you know, with all that being said,

00:33:17.424 –> 00:33:19.704
the two things that I can tell you that.

00:33:20.495 –> 00:33:26.295
Be the case, no matter what the traumatic situation you find yourself in is try to remain calm.

00:33:26.855 –> 00:33:31.575
Not all of us have the opportunity to face these situations every day, right? That’s fair.

00:33:31.795 –> 00:33:35.335
So try to remain calm and keep your head and wits about you.

00:33:35.455 –> 00:33:38.255
And then, you know, if you are with your family, especially your children,

00:33:38.495 –> 00:33:40.095
keep them with you, right?

00:33:40.675 –> 00:33:44.575
Hold their hands, make sure they’re right there along with them,

00:33:44.695 –> 00:33:46.855
you know, do your job as a parent to protect them.

00:33:47.075 –> 00:33:49.795
Don’t let them get lost in the crowd. Keep them with you.

00:33:50.235 –> 00:33:55.415
And so those are some tips that I would tell you. The biggest one being avoid it to begin with.

00:33:55.535 –> 00:33:59.495
But if you find yourself stuck in it, you don’t want to be a part of the crowd.

00:33:59.635 –> 00:34:00.715
You don’t want to join in.

00:34:01.135 –> 00:34:04.855
One of the largest, I’ll say threats, that might not be the best word,

00:34:04.955 –> 00:34:10.095
but one of the largest problems, threats with a rioting, looting,

00:34:10.315 –> 00:34:15.635
large crowd, civil unrest situation is the concept, psychological concept of groupthink.

00:34:15.935 –> 00:34:19.215
And that means everybody’s joining in for the sake of joining in,

00:34:19.455 –> 00:34:21.755
even if they wouldn’t otherwise do it.

00:34:21.895 –> 00:34:27.655
The power of the group kind of overtakes the others in the surrounding individuals, right?

00:34:27.775 –> 00:34:33.735
And so it’s very easy sometimes to find yourself caught up in bad situations. Don’t be that person.

00:34:34.155 –> 00:34:37.155
Don’t get involved. Get out. That’s your key.

00:34:37.335 –> 00:34:41.355
And don’t be one of these assholes that stand on the side taking pictures and

00:34:41.355 –> 00:34:45.375
videos, especially if you’re with your significant other of your children.

00:34:45.375 –> 00:34:51.255
And that video going up on social media is not near as important as you getting

00:34:51.255 –> 00:34:53.195
away with your loved ones safely.

00:34:54.555 –> 00:34:57.955
So, you know, one of the things that I’ve even experienced firsthand,

00:34:57.955 –> 00:35:02.615
not directly on me, but just have witnessed, or at least I think I’ve witnessed

00:35:02.615 –> 00:35:08.035
it firsthand, is the stress, the general stress that’s out there.

00:35:08.035 –> 00:35:14.955
Now, what the media and social media might have us try to believe is that there’s

00:35:14.955 –> 00:35:18.075
tensions between certain groups and certain individuals.

00:35:18.535 –> 00:35:22.735
Personally, I haven’t seen that the case. I’ve been to a lot of grocery stores

00:35:22.735 –> 00:35:27.375
and gas stations over this time, and everybody is cordial and nice and friendly.

00:35:27.655 –> 00:35:32.155
Anybody that does have an issue is probably being quiet and withdrawn,

00:35:32.155 –> 00:35:34.755
if nothing else. I haven’t seen the tension.

00:35:35.435 –> 00:35:41.155
But I generally, I mean, at that level, but I know that tensions are higher.

00:35:41.495 –> 00:35:43.855
I know stress is higher. I mean, look, people are out of work.

00:35:44.155 –> 00:35:48.975
Small businesses have had to close down, right? Tensions and stress are definitely up.

00:35:49.315 –> 00:35:54.055
And so a few weeks ago, I was going to have lunch with my team a few weeks ago,

00:35:54.155 –> 00:35:56.815
just a few weeks ago, because it had been at that point like 17,

00:35:56.995 –> 00:36:00.175
18 weeks since we’d seen each other, something like that, 16,

00:36:00.335 –> 00:36:03.735
17 weeks since we’d seen each other. So we met for lunch near our office.

00:36:04.562 –> 00:36:10.162
And both, I had about a 30, 35 minute trip each direction and both coming and going.

00:36:10.422 –> 00:36:13.822
I witnessed aggressive drivers on the highway. And, you know,

00:36:13.962 –> 00:36:16.082
you can tell telltale signs, right?

00:36:16.182 –> 00:36:19.862
The ones that get right up on your rear bumper and ease off a little bit and

00:36:19.862 –> 00:36:22.122
then right back on it, ease off a little bit and right back on it.

00:36:22.202 –> 00:36:24.482
You can tell they’re impatient and they’re aggressive, right?

00:36:24.742 –> 00:36:28.902
Or they’re zooming around and cutting right back over and they’re speeding up

00:36:28.902 –> 00:36:31.682
and they’re traveling way faster than the rest of the traffic.

00:36:31.682 –> 00:36:38.102
And they’re zigzagging out of traffic, or maybe if they’re not even zigzagging

00:36:38.102 –> 00:36:43.322
necessarily, they’re erratic and very jerky in how they change lanes.

00:36:43.462 –> 00:36:49.022
And so you can tell there’s a certain tension in the air or a certain impatience in the air, right?

00:36:49.562 –> 00:36:53.662
And so both coming and going, I experienced that same thing,

00:36:53.802 –> 00:36:57.222
two different drivers, two different vehicles, obviously, at two different times.

00:36:57.222 –> 00:37:02.542
But the point is, is that it’s out there. And so I would just caution you when

00:37:02.542 –> 00:37:07.762
you’re out on the road, avoid any potential for road rage, right?

00:37:07.842 –> 00:37:11.962
If somebody else rolls down their window and yells at you, don’t engage with that.

00:37:12.142 –> 00:37:15.602
Don’t flick them off. Don’t stick that middle finger up. That middle finger

00:37:15.602 –> 00:37:16.962
will get you killed these days.

00:37:18.442 –> 00:37:21.242
That’s a little bit of extreme but that’s

00:37:21.242 –> 00:37:23.922
not necessarily an exaggeration right there’s been

00:37:23.922 –> 00:37:27.222
people killed for less don’t engage by

00:37:27.222 –> 00:37:30.722
that standard when you’re at the gas station or the grocery store you know if

00:37:30.722 –> 00:37:35.022
someone’s not standing in line just right yeah you have the right to ask them

00:37:35.022 –> 00:37:40.762
whatever but just know in the state of things you might get pushback on that

00:37:40.762 –> 00:37:44.082
like let’s say the person behind you is two feet away from you,

00:37:44.202 –> 00:37:45.722
they got a mask on, you don’t.

00:37:45.842 –> 00:37:51.482
You can’t exactly ask them to stand six feet away when you’re not wearing a mask like they are.

00:37:51.602 –> 00:37:57.362
Whatever the situation is, just let it go. It’s not worth the engagement.

00:37:57.362 –> 00:37:59.142
It’s not worth getting hurt.

00:37:59.282 –> 00:38:02.182
And look, if you’re with your significant other or your children,

00:38:02.342 –> 00:38:03.902
you definitely shouldn’t be engaging.

00:38:04.102 –> 00:38:10.042
So just know that the tensions or stress are definitely up. Like I said, people are out of work.

00:38:10.462 –> 00:38:14.702
Small businesses have had to close down, they haven’t gotten the support they

00:38:14.702 –> 00:38:19.142
need from the government, whatever it is, maybe they’ve got a loved one that’s

00:38:19.142 –> 00:38:23.282
sick currently at home, whatever it is, just avoid that.

00:38:23.502 –> 00:38:30.602
And this is why I said the two key points is really avoidance and getting away.

00:38:31.282 –> 00:38:35.502
And secondly, keeping that ego in check. And look, you know,

00:38:35.642 –> 00:38:37.762
the egos of guys, guys have got the ego.

00:38:38.590 –> 00:38:41.870
And that’s okay. That’s the way it is. But keep it in check.

00:38:42.030 –> 00:38:44.750
And for women, for you, it’s the intuition, right?

00:38:44.910 –> 00:38:49.730
At least a lot of times it’s the intuition. If you’re near or around an area

00:38:49.730 –> 00:38:55.470
and you get a bad feeling, your spidey senses are going off,

00:38:55.570 –> 00:38:58.970
whatever it is, pay attention to that and just get out and leave if you can.

00:38:58.970 –> 00:39:01.950
There’s no harm in it being nothing after the day.

00:39:02.090 –> 00:39:06.130
The worst case scenario, you might offend somebody, but they’ll get over it.

00:39:06.210 –> 00:39:07.530
Your safety is paramount.

00:39:07.690 –> 00:39:09.670
So avoid the situation.

00:39:09.950 –> 00:39:12.150
Get away if you can, as you can.

00:39:12.510 –> 00:39:16.490
Keep those egos in check and listen to those intuitions, and you’ll be a lot

00:39:16.490 –> 00:39:19.190
better off during this whole pandemic thing.

00:39:19.470 –> 00:39:23.250
So with that, I think we’ve had a good talk. Hopefully, you’ve got something out of this.

00:39:23.490 –> 00:39:27.830
If you haven’t been listening to us, I recommend going back and listening to our other podcasts.

00:39:27.830 –> 00:39:30.630
We’ve been doing this for almost two and

00:39:30.630 –> 00:39:33.430
a half years now and look if you’re

00:39:33.430 –> 00:39:36.330
a repeat listener we appreciate it there’s a lot of music

00:39:36.330 –> 00:39:40.850
choices out there a lot of other more entertaining podcasts probably but hopefully

00:39:40.850 –> 00:39:45.150
you’re coming to this one listening to it you’re taking away at least one nugget

00:39:45.150 –> 00:39:51.390
of information that while if nothing else it’s just making you get to making

00:39:51.390 –> 00:39:55.710
you think about things or maybe do something different than what you have in the past.

00:39:56.250 –> 00:39:59.550
And we appreciate you listening to us.

00:39:59.790 –> 00:40:04.950
Thank you so much. And look, if you like what you hear, tell your friends and

00:40:04.950 –> 00:40:07.070
family and leave us that five-star review.

00:40:07.230 –> 00:40:11.570
We’d greatly appreciate it. And anyway, that concludes episode 28,

00:40:11.570 –> 00:40:14.150
and we’ll talk to you soon. Thanks so much for joining us.

00:40:14.550 –> 00:40:18.550
So just a couple of additional tips free of charge here today,

00:40:18.550 –> 00:40:23.870
I would encourage you to take a break from the news and the social media outlets.

00:40:24.430 –> 00:40:29.590
It’s just a constant barrage of information at any given time.

00:40:29.730 –> 00:40:33.790
And I know for me, at least with the news, it’s constant negative, right?

00:40:34.710 –> 00:40:38.710
Through this entire thing, there’s only been the bad things talked about.

00:40:39.270 –> 00:40:41.910
So if you find yourself watching a

00:40:41.910 –> 00:40:46.050
lot of news or listening to the news or looking at a lot of social media.

00:40:46.270 –> 00:40:48.690
Do yourself a favor and take a break.

00:40:49.050 –> 00:40:52.690
Just walk away from it all. De-stress. Turn it off for a little while.

00:40:52.910 –> 00:40:59.590
You’ll be better for it. And the last thing, and not to sound too cheesy, but wash your hands.

00:41:00.050 –> 00:41:03.050
You know, you’d be washing your hands. Your mama should have taught you to wash

00:41:03.050 –> 00:41:06.510
your hands at some key times, like before you eat, when you get done in the bathroom.

00:41:06.830 –> 00:41:11.090
And you’d be washing your hands hopefully during regular cold and flu season.

00:41:11.090 –> 00:41:13.430
But now, keep those hands washed.

00:41:13.610 –> 00:41:16.650
When you’ve been out in public or you’ve touched something funky,

00:41:16.810 –> 00:41:18.750
wash those hands. And with that.

00:41:18.800 –> 00:41:39.860
Music.