Running Iron Report

“A tongue can accuse and carry bad news The seeds of distrust it will sow But unless you’ve made no mistakes in your life Be careful of stones that you throw… — Hank Williams, “Be Careful Of Stones That You Throw” * This is how this rolls: Somebody, somewhere, with an ax to grind digs up some stupid thing someone … Read More

Readers of this site generally accept the proposition that our American experiment in self‐government is taking on water.  I would argue that, all things considered, the ship is actually beginning to list heavily under the combined weight of a wholly unaccountable administrative state, a surreal burden of debt we will leave to our grandchildren as a kind of cynical stocking stuffer, third‐world education standards, tribal strife stoked by retail journalism, a new and prevailing cultural adulation of the victim mentality, meme‐think politics, and a Congress that is more or less directed by the parasitic whims of a guild economy.

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In this episode of the Running Iron Podcast Craig, Jim, and Oil Can are joined in the bunkhouse by Austin, Texas, resident Rick Schwertfeger.  Rick is a retired public health professional who has also become a regular contributor to both Frontier Partisans and Running Iron Report.  Rick sits down to discuss internet dating, former Texas Governor Rick Perry’s shooting prowess, and his studies of frontier life during the American War for independence.

As a bonus, the Running Iron boys are also joined by Miami Firefighter, and former US Marine, Carlos Constanzo.  Carlos talks about his family’s experience before, during, and after the Castro takeover of Cuba.

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“This is the kind of surveillance that people can actually like. There’s satellites up there not only to spy on us, but to help us lead better lives.” — Marcel Salathé, head of the Digital Epidemiology Lab at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne on using satellite photographs to correlate obesity and environment. Oh, fuck off Marcel. As C.S. Lewis … Read More

Cardi B and Nicki Minaj are feuding. Stormy Daniels has described Donald Trump’s penis for us. A big storm in North Carolina demanded 24/7 coverage, even if reporters had to fake it. Meanwhile, in other news: The Shanghai International Port Group is expected to take management of a new private seaport at Haifa, Israel in 2021, bringing a Chinese presence … Read More

Nevada cowgirl, educator, philanthropist, and elite‐level athlete Cris Converse joins Craig and Jim in the Bunkhouse on the historic Figure 8 Ranch.  Cris leads just the sort of eclectic and informed American life that fans of Running Iron appreciate; in this terrific interview she discusses the fascinating trail of her life, and lends important perspective on making a legacy commitment to community.

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By Rick Schwertfeger for RunningIronReport.com Evidence increases in the United States today of two processes underway simultaneously: One, a potential collapse of key institutions that underlie the existing American economic, political, and social systems. Evidence abounds of an economic system that concentrates wealth in a small minority of Americans, and leaves the majority struggling with insufficient income, debt, and no … Read More

I often return to the poets these days.  From great translations of the Illiad and the Odyssey to Beowulf, from Shakespeare to Dylan Thomas, and more frequently to the modern giants like Charles Wright, Richard Hugo, or Galway Kinnell, I find a touchstone that gentles my nerves. That ritual works for me because fine poets fire the language with precision, and stoke the imagination with what John Keats called “Negative Capability.” Our world is sorely lacking in appreciation for the mysterious and the levitating these days, and the airwaves are so rich with insincerity, so over‐cooked with political certainty and righteous declarations, that the daily and endless caterwauling amounts to a kind of relentless propaganda bullhorn. … Read More

“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined… could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on … Read More

A recent letter to the editor in The Nugget Newspaper, which I edit and where Craig has a column, defended “political correctness” as “basically another term for respect, consideration, kindness, and generosity towards others despite their race, ethnicity, gender, or disability.” This definition elides the modern origins of the term, which lie in totalitarian attempts to own language, and thus … Read More