In my forty-odd years of being a shooting sports aficionado, I’ve learned that like me, most gun nuts like reading about guns and shooting sports almost as much as they like the sports themselves. The explosion of the Information Revolution has resulted in a plethora of scribes talking about guns and shooting, but back in the old days of paper and ink, the market was a lot tighter.
Nevertheless, the shooting scene saw some great gun scribes from a variety of backgrounds. We had cops and cowboys, hunters and target shooters, and some of them were prolific writers. Like must gun cranks, I had my favorites.
So here they are, in some sort of particular order.
Jack O’Connor (1902-1978)
Jack O’Connor was probably the Dean of American gun writers. One of my favorite bits of his work was an article for Outdoor Life titled “Moose Are Too Big,” in which he described being on an Alaskan trip when he was asked to help find and kill a moose for camp meat. The story revolved not around the hunt but the ordeal of dressing, quartering, boning and packing out hundreds of pounds of moose meat, about which O’Connor expressed a preference for birds: “You can shoot a quail, put it in your pocket and go find another.”
O’Connor did nevertheless spend much of his career hunting big game. He was an early advocate for the .270 Winchester cartridge for game up to and including elk, emphasizing the importance of marksmanship and shot placement over raw power. (Not that you can’t have both.)
O’Connor’s books include:
- Game in the Desert
- Hunting in the Rockies
- Sporting Guns
- The Rifle Book
- Hunting with a Binocular
- Sportsman’s Arms and Ammunition Manual
- The Big-Game Rifle
- Jack O’Connor’s Gun Book
- The Outdoor Life Shooting Book
- The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns
- The Big Game Animals of North America
- Jack O’Connor’s Big Game Hunts
- The Shotgun Book
- The Art of Hunting Big Game in North America
- Horse and Buggy West: A Boyhood on the Last Frontier
- The Complete Book of Shooting
- The Hunting Rifle
- Rifle and Shotgun Shooting Basics
- Sheep and Sheep Hunting
- Game in the Desert Revisited
- The Best of Jack O’Connor
- The Hunter’s Shooting Guide
- Hunting Big Game
- The Last Book: Confessions of an Outdoor Gun Editor
- Hunting on Three Continents with Jack O’Connor
Elmer Keith (1899-1984)
Elmer Keith was a prolific gun writer; his book Sixguns is a personal favorite of mine, having survived the test of time to still be one of the best all-around books on revolvers and revolver shooting available. His biggest claim to fame in the shooting world is probably his role in the creation of the .44 Magnum cartridge, which was based on heavy .44 Special loads he devised for the N-frame Smith & Wesson revolvers. He was a fan of the Smith & Wesson Triple Lock, calling it the “finest revolver ever devised,” and Keith was an early convert to Bill Ruger’s placing modern lockwork and sights on the classic American single-actions, resulting in the now-classic Ruger Blackhawk. On hunting rifles, he was a staunch advocate of big guns; he co-developed the .333 OKH wildcat and was an early proponent of the .338 Winchester Magnum.
Funny thing; Jack O’Connor and big-gun advocate Elmer Keith were contemporaries in the American shooting scene, but they held differing views on hunting rifles and sidearms and cordially (and sometimes not-so-cordially) detested each other for many years.
Keith’s books include:
- Sixgun Cartridges and Loads
- Big Game Rifles and Cartridges
- Keith’s Rifles for Larger Game
- Elmer Keith’s Big Game Hunting
- Shotguns
- Sixguns
- Guns and Ammo for Hunting Big Game, with John Lachuk.
- Safari
- Keith, An Autobiography
- Hell, I Was There (autobiography)
Townsend Whelen (1877-1961)
(Army) Colonel Whelen is best known for his experiments on wildcat rounds based on the then-standard military-issue rifle cartridge, the Caliber .30, Model of 1906. The .35 Whelen was accorded legitimacy by Remington some years back, but his other efforts, including the .25 Whelen, .375 Whelen and the .400 Whelen never gained much traction, although the .25-06 wildcat that became the .25-06 Remington was very similar to the .25 Whelen.
While Colonel Whelen wrote several books, my favorite of his works appeared in Outdoor Life around 1910 and described a several-months adventure he embarked on with a friend, a saddle horse and pack horse each, a rifle each, plenty of ammo and his buddy’s dog. Red-Letter Days in British Columbia is a must-read for any outdoor nut.
Whelen’s books include:
- Suggestions to Military Riflemen
- The American Rifle
- Telescopic Rifle Sights
- The Hunting Rifle
- Small Arms and Ballistics
- Hunting Big Game (of which he was the editor)
- Amateur Gunsmithing
- Why Not Load Your Own?
Col. Charles Askins, Jr (1907-1999)
You’ve got to love a guy whose autobiography is entitled Unrepentant Sinner. (Dammit, he stole my title.) Askins had two careers, one in the U.S. Army and one in the Border Patrol, and claimed at least 27 men killed in armed combat, which is probably nearly a record in the 20th century. So, when it comes to the deployment of a sidearm in combat, he knew of whence he wrote. He was something of an unsavory character, claiming at one point in his later years that he hunted game because he was no longer allowed to hunt men, but his survival in some nasty environments speaks volumes of his skills with a firearm.
Askins’ books include:
- Hitting the Bull’s-Eye
- The Art of Handgun Shooting
- Wing and Trap Shooting
- The Pistol Shooter’s Book
- Unrepentant Sinner: The Autobiography of Col. Charles Askins
- The Gunfighters: True Tales of Outlaws, Lawmen, and Indians on the Texas Frontier
- Shotgun-ology: A Handbook of Useful Shotgun Information
- The African Hunt
- Asian jungle, African Bush
- The Shotgunner’s Book – A Modern Encyclopedia
- Texans, Guns & History
- The Federalist
Bill Jordan (1911-1977)
Bill Jordan’s book on handgun combat, No Second Place Winner, was the result of his long career as a lawman. He was also a Marine, with service in WW2 and Korea, leaving the Corps with the rank of Colonel.
Jordan was a lawman back when lawmen was not the visored, armored paramilitary forces we see in our cities today; his armor was a shirt, his only recourse against bad guys was a holstered revolver and cuffs. He was a master with the double-action revolver, once having been recorded drawing, firing and hitting his target in .28 seconds – and he instructed James Arness in fast-draw techniques for Arness’ role as Marshall Dillon in Gunsmoke. Jordan’s thoughts on guns in general and combat handguns in particular are still worth reading.
Jordan’s books include:
- No Second Place Winner
- Mostly Huntin’
- Tales of the Rio Grande
Warren Page (1910-1977)
While the saying “only accurate rifles are interesting” is bandied about a lot and is frequently named a quote from Townsend Whelen, it’s originally attributed to Warren Page, and few have done as much to spread the cause of accurate rifles than he did.
Page was responsible for the greatest name ever for a wildcat rifle cartridge; he took the old .244 Remington case and blew it out to a 28-degree shoulder and called it the .240 Page Souper Pooper. It was a good round, largely eclipsed now in wildcatting circles by the .243 Improved.
Page’s books include:
- The Accurate Rifle
- One Man’s Wilderness
Col. Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
The Browning/Colt 1911 pistol never had a more ardent advocate than Jeff Cooper. A retired Marine, Cooper also promoted the use of the rifle, stating in his book The Art of the Rifle, “…the rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.” That’s a good point lost on all too many folks today, but Colonel Cooper was a man of a simpler time.
Colonel Cooper also coined the term hoplophobia, meaning to have an irrational fear of gadgetry – especially weapons.
Cooper’s books include:
- Principles of Personal Defense
- Another Country: Personal Adventures of the Twentieth Century
- C Stories
- Fire Works
- Shotluck
- To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth
- The Art of the Rifle
- The Modern Technique of the Pistol
- Yukon Journal
- A Man in Full
- Cooper on Handguns
- Handguns Afield
- Guns of the Old West
- Fighting Handguns
- Custom Rifles
Honorable Mention: Denis McLoughlin (1918-2002)
Denis McLoughlin was not, strictly speaking, a gun writer. But if you’re interested in the Old West, his book Wild & Woolly – An Encyclopedia of the Old West is an essential reference. Ever wondered what Valley Tan was and where it originated? Heard of the Dog Soldiers but weren’t sure who they were? Don’t know who Annie Moses, Martha Jane Cannary, Alfred Swartz or Melvin King were? Wild & Wooly will tell you. Ever wondered where the Llano Estacado, Inscription Rock or the Mormon Trail were? Ah, but Denis McLoughlin has the answer! Funny thing is, he was a Brit.
Reading about guns isn’t as much fun as shooting them. But imagine the ammo costs if you spent as much time shooting as you can be reading. Take a browse through any of the authors listed here; you won’t be disappointed. Read, and enjoy!
Comments
185 responses to “Good Reads For Gun Folks”
No Lucas McCain? 🙂
One of the best on screen father-son relationship.
Connors and Griffith prove that life is great once you get the women out of the way.
life is great once you get the women out of the way.-
Jesse, Tonio and Rhywun agree!
Chuck Connors-on-Andy Griffith action? Kinky.
My insights are limited to the guitar on the porch after dinner sphere.
Of course, I’m not man enough to go a week without New Wife’s shrimp and grits, so mine is all really just speculation.
Or Paladin?
gun folks are yokels and don’t read…
well I had nothing to say and just wanted to get the first comment in. That failed miserably. Back to drinking Puglia wine
Thar’s your problem.
Paging Rufus….
Puglia wine
I’m fond of cheap wine, but idk what this is.
I think Puglia is just a wine-growing region, like Alsace or Rhein wine. I have no idea if the wines are any good, although I’d wonder if it’s too hot.
Then again, I’ve liked most of the Spanish Garnachas I’ve tried.
Puglia is indeed pretty good wine for warm weather stuff. Although the good stuff needs to breathe for an hour or three.It is mostly negroamaro and primitivo (what you barbarians might ca zinfandel)
I would respond but I can’t read your comment.
Great lists, saves people lots of work.
Growing up with Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and Sports Afield the names on the list were well known in our household. In the ’70s I subscribed to the Outdoor Life Book Club, had at least 3 of O’Connors’ books and several others on the list. The back page was always funny, I can’t remember the names, (Ed Zern? and a few others). The ’40s/’50s were a great time to be kid. I remember the first Shooter’s Bible my brother and I had, we memorized the ballistics tables the way some people memorize sports statistics. We wanted a 220 Swift, the hottest rifle out there but instead we were happy to get a box of .22 Long Rifle ammo.
Thanks for the memories, Mr Animal
Ed Zern was Field&Stream; IIRC: Madison Avenue Rod Gun and Bloody Mary Benevolent Society
I still have some of Pat McManus’s books floating around. He was one of the greatest. Not really a gun writer, but love his work.
Mas Ayoob probably belongs in there somewhere.
It has been close to 10 years since I last hunted, and I am thinking this fall I will actually start back up and go bag me some white tails and some wild turkey. Time to go get the gear out and all set I guess.
I doing the skills test tomorrow to get my license. I took a week off in January for general gun season. I’m pretty excited.
PSA: the NRA does the hunter education course for free and has other free info.
https://nra.yourlearningportal.com/nra/user_training.aspx
My state probably requires me to redo the safety class again despite having done it numerous times and being a concealed carry certified asshat.
Somebody obviously lobbied the government for that so they could wet their beak.
We drew coveted buck mulie tags for the Bosque del Oso SWA in southern Colorado this year. I informed loyal sidekick Rat that, whichever of us shoots a buck first, I’m putting my tag on it.
“Why?” he asked.
“So I don’t have to carry around a fucking ten-pound cannon the rest of the season,” I replied.
Maybe I should look into a lighter rifle, at least for deer.
Congrats on getting drawn.
Since the oil boom in NoDak, it has been almost impossible to draw muley buck licenses (and getting super hard for does). I love hunting muleys. Instead of sneaking around in brush like a sniveling white tail, they prance around in the sage brush daring you to sneak up to get a shot.
Any idea why western states are so anti-party hunting? Minnesoda allows party hunting and I think NoDak does too, but Montana and Wyoming don’t.
My father used to go to Dubois, WY elk hunting every year. He and his buddies knew a couple who lived there that would act as guides for most of the season. They wouldn’t fill their own tag out until the last week of the season because they wanted to be able to hunt the whole time.
Party hunting is illegal in NoDak
Here the reason I don’t like it; if YOU want to tag a deer, YOU do the work and put YOUR tag on it.
There are some more official reason why it’s illegal in some places:
Um, wouldn’t you be able to do the same by straw-registering uninterested parties for individual tags?
You mean break the law? Yes, by breaking the law you could end up with the same outcome.
Sort of. The problem is that if you get pulled over by the game warden while transporting a deer, your tag had better be on the deer. If it is from one of the straw hunters, you could be in trouble.
Back in the early ’80s Minnesoda had a lottery every two years for a moose license. You had to apply in groups of 4. My father has religiously entered that lottery since forever and never won. My mother and her friends entered as a lark one year and won. She ended up shooting a nice bull moose. The entire time though no one believed that she was the actual hunter. They all thought it was a scam by him.
He was absolutely bitter and still believes to this day that some asshole down at the DNR saw an application with 4 women on it and picked it out as some affirmative action deal. (It didn’t help that my sister has also won a moose lottery later).
Thanks Mike. I couldn’t remember about NoDak for sure. The last couple times I deer hunted there (near Cartwright) we were on private land and weren’t too worried about it. It was also pretty stupid easy because there were lots of muleys running around doing their best to eat the rancher into the poor house.
I say having to bone out all four of those deer is punishment enough for being greedy.
White tail and Wild Turkey? Sounds like you are going to a cheap roadhouse in Texas.
Damn..
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I’d like to go hunting this fall, not sure what to hunt, though. Our area is lousy with turkey, so maybe that would be fun.
Tree chicken for the win!
I’ve hunted deer, waterfowl, dove, squirrel..never turkey. I need to to that some time. It looks like fun. And I’ve always though it would be cool to supply the Thanksgiving turkey yourself.
I grew up hunting and still take a trip to Washington each fall for the elk hunt. I can’t imagine not going out each fall for the hunt.
On topic: Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting books are very good. They were best sellers in their day.
I’m not a turkey hunter either. My father always goes out for the spring turkey hunt.
He says that wild turkeys are too tough to do much with besides turn them into soup. He is pretty spoiled when it comes to eating game and fish, so take it for what it is.
Dove are my favorite and it’s only a few weeks until opening day. I’ll cut my final round of hay in a week or so and then seed my pasture for winter wheat for dove season which opens the first Saturday in September.
Not sure if the morning thread is dead yet, but I am reposting an interesting tidbit on Brother Keith’s troubles.
I haven’t seen this elsewhere, but who wouldn’t be a bit perturbed by not taking out the trash when asked?
I suppose it depends on the podcast…
So “take out the trash” is the new “make me a sammich”?
In my house, taking out the trash is somehow my job. I told the wife that this is gender stereotyping and a product of the oppressive matriarchy. It didn’t work. She said something like ‘I don’t know what you just said, take the garbage out!’. Oh well, I tried.
If someone ignores you while staring at a fucking smartphone, I think “no blood, no foul” is within bounds.
Some people ought to be ignored on principle.
A matter for the jury to decide.
Just ignore him.
Yeah, I’m also going to be barred from running for office because of actions I have taken when my kids were staring at a phone while I was giving them directions.
There is another accuser out there who also says Keith showed up at her house and wasn’t the friendliest fellow.
I don’t think Ellison actually is the guy who beats on women. I think he has anger issues and yells and storms around a lot. But because the DFL decided that the rules are that women get to decided what a “survivor” is, now everyone has to play by the rules. I have to admit that the glee I have watching an ass like Ellison getting hoisted by his own (or his allies’) petard is wonderful.
The left have themselves to blame for this. It was a plot to delegitimize right wing political candidates. It blew up in their faces. Once again, this is another case of the left not understanding human nature. There are a lot of unstable, emotionally immature and unstable people who if you tell them ‘hey do this and you will be a hero, everyone will love you, you’ll get attention!’ that will do it, entirely for the reason you just gave them. Most of the people jumping on this #metoo stuff are not thinking about politics, they are thinking about themselves getting attention, something they have probably been starving for, for a long time. Leftists are idiots. Same as with them creating their antifa monster and believing that the monster will not turn on them. Dummies.
I would love to have the data on the actual motivations of #MeToo accusers.
Throw out the women who were actually assaulted (which I actually believe are in the majority). My guess is that you would see a non-significant amount of:
1) Want the pats on the back for “surviving” an attack and be able to use “as a survivor” in all future arguments
2) Their friend was attacked and they are jealous of the attention she got
3) Really wanted to fuck up their Ex’s life
4) Have converted to hard core feminism and now believe that their past consensual encounters were actually rape
What was that kinnath? I wasn’t paying attention to you. There was some bright colors and movement happening on my phone.
You got it wrong.
It’s “What’s the frequency kinnath?”
Sorry, the song has it backward,
Kinnath, what is the frequency.
Fucking around on your phone and not paying attention on Slap Friday? That isn’t going to end well for you.
Meh… as long as I can still walk for the insanity that is the Wing Crawl tomorrow, I’ll be fine. 48 wings (24 buffalo, 24 bar’s choice), and beer specials for 6 hours. All for $25.
Although nothing will top the year they gave out frisbees at the check in. For the next month you’d randomly see one on top of a bar, or in a yard, or stuck in a tree.
Damn. I’d be all over that!
I’ve made it to all but the first one. It’s a good day of walking, eating too much, and drinking far too much. They used to do early sales to previous attendees, but they stopped that a couple of years ago. Now you’ve generally got about 2 days from when the tickets go on sale to when they’re sold out. Of course, this doesn’t stop ticket holders from having friends tag along to drink beer, and help people eat wings.
Now, some of the wings are terrible. But we make it a point to at least stop in each location. There was one stop that was bottom of the barrel the first two years, but then they had to have gotten a new cook or something, because they stepped up to be in the top 3. If you’re serving wings out of a crock pot though… we’re probably just moving on.
That looks awesome. Maybe plan my next trip to Cleveland around that.
Tickets usually go on sale in early July (it was July 3rd this year) for the Wing Crawl. But for a week full of events, you’ve also got Cleveland Beer Week. The Flagship Events are starting to get announced for that, by mid-September, most of the regular bar events will be listed. There’s a couple events there we go to yearly as well (Beer and Doughnut pairing, Bells Ruins Beer Week, Great Lakes Saves Beer Week, Brewzilla).
That’s just like, his religion, man.
He should just find a good cousin among his own flock and settle down. Put her in a nice burka and get one of them wife whooping sticks. Don’t they hand those out at the mosque? I mean, I’m just asking, I don’t know about these things.
Yes, I know it’s not accurate. Even Wikipedia points out that’s an incorrect meaning.
Admittedly, I have girlfriend whooping sticks. Inch thick rattan. Didn’t get ’em at a mosque though…
Man, the luck I have had with the crazy I have been picking up as of late might require me to ask you for some advice on how to properly, erm, educate the bitchez.
That’s why I became such a huge fan of the intertoobz dating. You can typically weed out the crazy before the pickup part happens.
Unfortunately I must not be good at that then, cause I have still ended up with crazy…
I will say this; there are some women (and I presume some men, but I think the behavior is different and I have no experience there) who act out in order to provoke a … firm response because they aren’t able to articulate their desire for that sort of thing and that’s the only way they know to get it. Providing them what they are looking for can turn the crazy dial back a few notches as a woman who has a submissive/masochistic streak who gets some regular … instruction is generally more stable and content. Don’t know if that’s the kinda crazy you are dealing with or not.
Shorter creosote: bitches be cray cray.
Seriously though, I’ve met some people (mostly female) who have to surround themselves in some sort of drama and conflict to feel important. 100% of the time, my life was better when I cut off all contact. I think “toxic” is overused, but they are toxic people.
Oh, there’s definitely toxic people who simply thrive on drama and avoiding them is recommended.
But I’ve known a fair number of women who would be bitchy toward their boyfriend/husband/whatever in an attempt to provoke him into responding with some dominant behavior because they didn’t know how to ask. Once they figured it out, even a simple weekly maintenance spanking and they’d calm the fuck down.
It’s almost like putting a thunder shirt on a nervous/anxious dog. (/misogynist shitlording)
I do get a lot of that, but I hate drama and find nothing about that sort of dynamic attractive.
We get enough drama with a teenage girl who thinks having to do the dishes is the end of the world and a tween boy ADHD genius who argues about everything and cannot be contained.
Otherwise, our drama consists of aging-related aches and pains, and paying bills.
No thanks. If you’re into it, you better announce it in plain words.
Scruffy, agreed. Not the sort I like. If she can’t say plainly she wants a beatin’, I don’t have time for her drama. Simply observing it happens.
That probably explains all the lippy bitches that I’d encounter while I was working retail. They’re just trying to get me riled up, hoping I put them in their place?
Don’t pull that shit me, I ain’t your boyfriend.
I don’t get women who want to be smacked around. What a bizarre desire. Not judging, really, people can do whatever they want if it’s voluntary, but it’s so weird to me.
I don’t get women who want to be smacked around. What a bizarre desire. Not judging, really, people can do whatever they want if it’s voluntary, but it’s so weird to me.
It /is/ kind of bizarre. I have questioned why I enjoy dispensing physical discipline and what’s going on in the heads of women who enjoy receiving it. I think partly it is a desire to give up some control, and partly a desire for intensity of physical sensation on their end. similar to people that enjoy contact sports. There’s a bunch of chemical shit that goes on when engaging in bdsm activities that are similar to experiences like getting tatto’d or doing things like rock climbing. There’s also elements of testing oneself and pushing the limits of what you can take. Or of finding the capacity of violence attractive in a mate because it feels like they can protect you. And there’s a fair number who have issues in their formative years that inform their sexuality in that direction.
“I don’t get women who want to be smacked around. What a bizarre desire. Not judging, really, people can do whatever they want if it’s voluntary, but it’s so weird to me.”
I actually had a pysch major once explain to me this is a natural behavior of insecure women that want to make sure their guy will pull the from the brink when they are being crazy because of estrogen. I personally hate this sort of game shit and will not put up with it. I married someone because she was not into this sort of mind games, only to have her crank it up to level 20 2 decades into it. We were divorced a couple of years later.
I guess if they are in the age range I am trolling for dates and single, they are high maintenance, but I am starting to think that I attract crazy women period, and they go even crazier when I respond by telling them I am out of there when they start being dramatic.
Alex, one reason why I love my wife so much is that she’s no bullshit. What you see is what you get, no silly games. Now, she can also be a bitch on wheels sometimes because she’s got a mean streak and holds a grudge like no one else, but I can at least understand that and know how to deal with that.
OT: Clearly he was not in tune with the holy spirit
In a frightening scene, a Kentucky snake-handling pastor whose pastor father had died after a snake bit him had to be carried out of his church after a serpent bit him.
Cody Coots, pastor at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus’ Name church in Middlesboro, Kentucky, was holding a snake while he was preaching when it snapped and bit his ear, causing blood to shower on his shirt. Determined to finish his sermon, Coots advised the congregants, who were playing music in the background, “Keep on playing. I’m not worried at all. God’s a healer, I’m not worried.”
But as the blood continued to flow on his face, Coots began to choke and had to be carried out. He asked to be taken to the mountaintop where God would judge whether he lived or died, but fellow preacher Big Cody took him to the hospital instead. After reaching the hospital, doctors told Coots he could have been killed because the serpent almost reached his temporal artery.
Christian snake handlers are fun.
“God why didn’t you save me?”
“You dumbass, I sent you doctors and hospitals”
“God why didn’t you save me?”
“You dumbass, I sent you doctors and hospitals”“well done good and faithful servant”
“thank you Lord!”
“I was talking to the snake”
Is it wrong for me to laugh at this? Darwin award candidates?
He’s partially right. Humans, I think, tend to use the word evil far too often to describe “fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own”. However, where he’s wrong is that evil isn’t a “make-believe concept”. Evil is real and actually exists. And sadly, he didn’t know that until the very final moments of his short lifetime.
Agreed. I think /most/ people want to do good. There are many people that don’t know what that is or have poor behavioral models. But most people want to do the right thing and be decent.
But there are broken, defective individuals out there who are either oblivious to the harm they cause, don’t give two shits, or actively enjoy it. They are a small, small minority, but a danger nonetheless.
We need a working definition for good and evil before we can label people as one or the other.
Agreed.
The real thing at play here is moral relativism.
These asshats, who were afforded the greatest opportunities in the world in America, decry their own society and seek to redeem failed cultures in the eyes of “arrogant” Westerners, cultures that failed for a reason.
Afghanistan has always been a backwards, tribal, violent place. It is specifically because of the cultures and mores of its inhabitants.
Had they traveled somewhere with a respect for human life but still a differing culture, I’d give them some credit for being open to human experience. But they were willfully ignorant in their choice of destinations.
Definitely your Darwinian process at work there.
“Evil is a make-believe concept we’ve invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans”
You know, I’m betting unless the other fellow human in a nazi rethuglican Trumpanze supporter, then evil exists.
Austin, a vegan who worked for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Geoghegan, a vegetarian who worked in the Georgetown University admissions office, decided that they’re were wasting their lives working.
Problems noted.
“I’ve grown tired of spending the best hours of my day in front of a glowing rectangle, of coloring the best years of my life in swaths of grey and beige,”
Well, you added red when you went on your trip…
“I’ve grown tired of spending the best hours of my day in front of a glowing rectangle, of coloring the best years of my life in swaths of grey and beige,”
Funny, I feel the same way. However, since I’m not an idiot, I’m saving up to retire early and go do something fun for the rest of my life. Hopefully with no ISIS involvement.
No sympathy for them from me. They were idiots who played a stupid game and won a stupid prize. I had to risk the lives of my Soldiers, and my life, too many times in Iraq to pick up their metaphorical (and sometimes physical) pieces.
If after all the years of worldwide Islamist killings they believed that Islamists were just Unitarians that didn’t eat pork then their fates were already sealed.
Sympathy is the wrong word. I wish I had a feeling word for the regret, but lack of surprise I feel when a utopian encounters the real world fatally.
Schadenfreude?
Pity?
Absolutely not. They served a purpose.
Colonel Julian Hatcher for technical articles. I keep rereading his “Book of the Garand”
Not an author, but I always keep a copy of “Small Arms of the World” as a technical reference.
Is this really not uncommon? Because it sounds to me like an intimidation tactic, considering the way the unhinged leftist loons have been behaving.
Media want names, addresses of jurors made public
“This is not a case involving organized crime or other circumstances in which the potential for violence or corruption requires an anonymous jury.”
“The Media Coalition is unaware of any credible threats of physical harm or other retaliation against jurors that would override the presumption that their names are matters of public record.”
HAHAHAHA…sure, not a chance that these shitheels will try to intimidate jurors.
If they do not vote to convict Manafort, I would almost 100% guarantee that if the NYT and these other media outlets publish their names and addresses, they will be harassed at their own homes. The media is not the enemy of the people? Really? Fuck them all.
At their homes, at the grocery store, at movie theaters, pumping gas, dropping their kids off at school…..there will be trustafarian scum with nothing but time on their hands following these people around day and night.
And this to nail a shitheel former Trump confederate for crimes over a decade old and having nothing to do with either him or Russia. This is how debauched they’ve become, intimidating jurors in their desperation to get at Trump. Let that sink in.
The Manafort trial is a blatantly political prosecution of a guy who would not even be on trial except for he supported Trump. Everyone who ever supported Trump is now a potential target. This is really some very destructive shit. The democrats would now rip the country completely apart and see it burned to the ground, just to spite Trump for winning the election.
When the judge is pretty much all but calling the trial a sham, you know it’s garbage. Yeah, this is going to end badly. Very badly.
Well, yeah, as demonstrated by the fact that Tony Podesta got immunity for the exact same things that Manafort is being tried for.
I don’t think he did. I think that was incorrect report.
However, he was apparently referred for prosecution, and as of yet, nothing has happened.
Yes they absolutely would harass the jurors. And speaking of ProFa, there is supposed to be some demonstration in Richmond this weekend. I suspect they will show up and
assault/riotcounter-protest as they are wont to do.Oh joy! I’ll make sure to stay out in the county this weekend, then.
I could swear I’ve seen that used as a plot point in a couple of old movies, although all I can think of is addresses of witnesses being made widely public.
In what possible way is that newsworthy? If it is common, it sure as hell shouldn’t be. Judges pretty much always tell jurors how they’re performing a public service by serving on a jury. How should their reward for that service be to have their privacy compromised?
Because fuck you, that’s why.
And if the judge really told the prosecution to appeal if he ruled against them, that sounds hinky too.
Well, in this case, the intent is very clear. The leftist media are fully aware that if this jury declines to convict Manafort, if their identity is revealed, they will be harassed and intimidated. Someone could even be killed or an entire family. And the media want these jurists to know that. They are trying to influence the outcome of a trial.
And my response would be simple: “Your Honor, you can feel free to give them my name and home address. On the condition that you provide me and each of the rest of the jurors the names and the home addresses of each member of the media requesting this information, as well that of their managing editors. And the names and ages of each of their children.”
On the condition that you provide
me and each of the rest of the jurorsSTEVE SMITH the names and the home addresses of each member of the media requesting this informationSTEVE SMITH SHOW HE NOT THINK PRESS ENEMY OF PEOPLE BY SHOWING THEM HIS LOVE, AND BY LOVE MEAN…..
*mails STEVE SMITH invitation to NYT offices*
RUSSIANS HACKED THE JURY
I wasn’t aware this is even a thing. No fucking way will ever willingly serve on a jury in that case.
Or, you know, just to interview them afterwards.
If they want to be interviewed, I’m pretty sure they can figure out how to contact the media.
Brian Enos: Practical Shooting
Yes
I’ll take Things That Never Hapened for $1000, Alex:
Man Wears ‘Caucasians’ Shirt in Attempt to Expose White ‘Hypocrisy and Privilege’
“An old white woman stopped and said why would you wear that, it’s disrespectful”
Video please? Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Yeah, my bet is he got more white people wanting to take selfies with him than white people complaining. I know of no white people who would be offended by that shirt. Hell, I know a bunch who’d ask him where they could get one for themselves.
The shirt is in no way offensive and I have a very hard time believing anyone would even pay attention to it. Simply put, the guy wants attention and so made it all up. If it were true, it would be on video.
Wait, when you are being an obvious trolling asshole people might call you out on it? I don’t believe it.
Shame on you for not believing!
*sigh*
The story of the Fighting Whites shows what really happens. (Yes, yes, I know it’s been linked before)
Yep, I was going to link that but got lazy. A professional marketing team wouldn’t have done anything different than this guy did to
spread his messagesell his shirts.Oops. Sorry for The OT, Animal. I got carried away.
Great article, by the way. I’m not a real big guns guy, but a couple of your recommended authors intrigue me. I”m going to check out a few of these titles.
Liar, lie lie lie
Liar, lie lie lie
Tell me why, tell me why,
Why’d you have to lie
Shoulda realized and you
Shoulda told the truth
Shoulda realized
You’d know what I’ll do
An old white woman
Am I a bad person for laughing at that?
No.
It was funny then. It is funny now.
I larfed.
Back when things were allowed to be funny. I still remember my wife’s reaction the first time she saw that and Southpark. Now that was really funny. And even funnier, the first episode of Southpark I showed her was the one where the Japanese attacked Seaworld. Fuck a you whares, and fuck a you dolpheens!
G-ddammed Mongolians attacking ShittyWok: couldn’t stop laughing
Hilarious. Too bad this lady isn’t still around (I assume) to council Vincent D’Onofrio on his difficult decision.
What a whiny douche he turned out to be.
God, I love that shirt and I want one of my own.
Somewhat related to gun books.
I really enjoyed reading the Stephen hunter books. The bob Lee and earl swagger series had a lot of gun stuff in them and were pretty entertaining.
For big game hunting, I’d recommend death in the tall grass and karamojo bell. Also, ghost and the darkness was a good read.
If you want to get your gun buttery anti-fed itch scratched, unintended consequences will have you calling up your local militia after reading.
Continuing from last night’s D-day thread, would there be interest in me putting together an article with a battlefield tour of the first battle of bull run? straffinrun shared a link of a great mises.org series on the battle, and I could snap some pics of my atlas and the relevant portions of the battlefield.
If I get enough interest, I’ll grab the DSLR and head over there tomorrow or Sunday.
Do eet.
Sure. I don’t think I’ve been to that battlefield since a school trip in high school.
Yes. That would be excellent.
Fortunately, the Manafort judge showed some common sense and denied CNN’s bullshit motion.
He’s absolutely right. We all know it.
Hey, the dnc operatives with bylines were hoping to be able to retaliate against the jury members if they didn’t help Mueller keep this Kabuki theatre going, and this mean judge blocked them…
You know, I would have no interest in this trial if I wasn’t aware of exactly what it is. This shit is bad for the country, bad for society and needs to be stopped. You lost a fucking election, democrats, now get the fuck over it for the sake of all of us.
Does anyone know anything about this guy? He actually seems like a solid guy. He’s called bullshit on the prosecution at least a couple of times for bad conduct. It’s almost as if he has a judicial spine.
I think he’s a Reagan appointee and he’s old and cranky and seriously dislikes bullshit. He knows this entire thing is bullshit. It does not take even a really smart person to know this is purely political theater.
I believe you’re right. I do know he’s been on the bench for like 30+ years, so he might be a Reagan appointee.
What I get from his attitude during this trial is that he believes it’s a waste of time and should not even be happening.
He probably also knows that he has to let it play out, because if he doesn’t, the media will go off their rockers.
Yeah, I think that is a given.
And he has also been threatened by people. Betting the people threatening him are not Trumpers…
Betting the people threatening him are not Trumpers…
Yeah, that’s one of the thing that has struck me since the election. For all of the talk about how Trump was encouraging thuggishness on the part of his voters during the campaign, by and large they’ve mostly turned out to be alright. It’s the left that has gone utterly batshit insane.
Who the hell asks for information on jurors during the damn trial?
That’s ballsy.
Our esteemed media, I mean the finest among them, CNN, NTY, WaPo.
If Trump was wrong to call them the enemy of the people, then why do they go out of their way to prove it? Are those jurors not the people? The media is scum and they have certainly become our enemy. I mean you may not think so if you’re a lefty, but that would only be because you are naive and stupid.
They’re claiming that they do it all the time, but why would they need this information prior to the verdict?
I can understand having access to the names after the trial ends, but not before.
Extortion after the fact doesn’t work?
To scare the jury into a guilty verdict, obviously. There is no other reason.
Where’s Fido going to get his fix?
Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian about the Glanton Gang has plenty to interest gun and western story lovers.
Thank you Obama!
OK, I was being fascteous there, but you know that is why these numbers are not touted as opposed to the constant stream of “It’s Boosh’s fault/economy”, “Unexpectedly we have bad news”, or “It is bound to be better anytime now” shit we got for 8 years of Obama.
About fucking time that we get a break and some truth about the weaponized Obama era deep state comes out. I expect many team red and team blue people to still defend this shit being done by unaccountable bureaucrats.
I think the site is down.
But back up now. That was weird.
That is great news! Now we’ll see how long it takes the DOJ to comply.
LOL, you made a funny. Did you forget who the boss of the DOJ is? He’s still in his room pouting because Trump won’t let him get them potheads. Sessions is a worthless bum, a slug, as worthless as a human being can be.
Naw, Trump gave him to go after the opioid fiends. I bet he’s still self medicating himself.
*gave him the green light
Not sure if you saw the comment about Brennan. But would it not be wild as fuck if it turns out the democrats and in particular, the Clinton campaign, were colluding with Russia to throw the election to Hillary? Because that certainly makes a lot more sense.
Oh, I don’t think Trump really has much to worry about on that front. If they had verified any of it, it would have been leaked by now, or they would have made sure to send the verification to Congress, unredacted, in one of their document dumps.
OT but I need to rant.
I dropped my Tahoe off at the dealership yesterday morning at 10am for an oil change and a break job. I had an appointment at that time, so therefore I expect that the work will be done in a timely fashion and that I would have my vehicle back by the end of the day. At 5:15 I get a phone call, they were so busy that they never got to it and it would have to wait until today. I was told that I would get a phone call this morning. Fortunately, we have another car because there would have been no time to pick it up before they closed. An oil change and a break job…
It’s now 2pm on a Friday and I still haven’t heard a word. I called and got voicemail. I don’t blame the person I’m dealing with, she’s just doing her job. I don’t blame the service technicians, they do good work as fast as they can. This is a failure of a management that doesn’t give a fuck. How do I know that? This is the second time in two years that I’ve had the same damned problem. They know damned well what the capacity of the shop is and how long it takes to get shit done. And then just like the airlines, they overbook because, whatever.
Time for another phone call. I have thoughts of wood chippers and rusty chainsaws dancing through my mind.
I’ve been going to the same dealer for nearly 25 years now because they never do this to me. I’ve rewarded them by buying 7 new vehicles from them over that 25 years.
I dropped my Tahoe off at the dealership yesterday morning
I think I see your problem.
Some dealerships are OK, but its been quite awhile since we took ours to a dealership (maybe since that sad day when we sold the AMG – you just about have to take them to a dealer). Mrs. Dean found a good independent mechanic, and that’s who we use.
He mean ‘the stealership’, amirite?
“I dropped my Tahoe off at the dealership yesterday morning at 10am for an oil change and a break job.”
Well, if you TOLD them to break it, then…
Just joking, bro, I am NOT that asshole. I’m an asshole, just not that one.
Read a lot of Keith and Cooper articles back in the day. I was at the range today picking up and shooting my new Springfield Loaded MC Operator 1911 which I think Coop would have loved. Damn fine gun. Dudes next to me shooting .44 Mag. Damn those things are loud.
Damn. I missed an Animal gun article. These are among my favorites.