Your friend Jim George thinks you'd be a great addition to Ricochet, so we'd like to offer you a special deal: You can become a member for no initial charge for one month!
Ricochet is a community of like-minded people who enjoy writing about and discussing politics (usually of the center-right nature), culture, sports, history, and just about every other topic under the sun in a fully moderated environment. We’re so sure you’ll like Ricochet, we’ll let you join and get your first month for free. Kick the tires: read the always eclectic member feed, write some posts, join discussions, participate in a live chat or two, and listen to a few of our over 50 (free) podcasts on every conceivable topic, hosted by some of the biggest names on the right, for 30 days on us. We’re confident you’re gonna love it.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Kit Carson arrived in Pueblo, CO, riding in the back of Daniel Oakes’ wagon about the second day of April 1868. A runner was sent to the town’s doctor, Michael Beshoar, telling him that Carson was ill and needed to see him as soon as possible. Beshoar was working at his second job which was editor and publisher of a local newspaper. He hurried to his medical office only moments before Carson.
After the examination, Carson spent the night in Pueblo and met with the doctor the next morning for an opinion. He was told that he had an aneurysm of the carotid artery, a bulge in the weakened wall of the artery, and he should have bed rest for a few days before continuing to travel. The old scout refused the bed rest saying he belonged with his wife for the birth of their eighth child. He was given some wild cherry syrup laced with opium and tincture of veratrum to slow his heart. He paid the doctor three silver dollars and left to rejoin his wife.
Three days after Kit and the now 40-year-old Josefa Carson settled back into the borrowed three-room apartment belonging to Tom Boggs in eastern Colorado, their eighth child was born. It was a daughter and Kit insisted she be named Josefita after her mother. It was April 13.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
In some ways, the path of the public narrative assigned to Christopher Carson’s life illustrates how simple truth can be shaded according to a “story tellers” viewpoint or motive. He was, by most worldly standards, uneducated. He spoke at least five languages with ease and simple clarity but didn’t write in any of them. In mid-lif,e he did learn to sign his name with a plain “C. Carson” to be applied to dictated letters and government documents. In real life, he was direct and plain-spoken and modest almost to a fault.
Meeting him for the first time, many who knew of his almost beyond-human exploits (both real and fictional) were taken back by his soft-spoken manner among strangers as well as his mere 5’6″ height. The “Christian” name given him at birth is seldom remembered and for the most part, he is known by the nickname hung on him by the rugged breed he became a part of when in his teens – Kit.
Over more a century and a half, his “mass media” image has flowed from one of an early comparison to Hercules to a more modern politically inspired one of a darker, violent, even racist archvillain. He was, of course, a much more complicated and simple man – as most of us humans are.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
I have always tried to follow my mother’s instructions about not making fun of another’s appearance. Often I have not tried nearly hard enough. And there have been a few times when, I must admit, I have ignored it altogether. Looking over the press photos of the cabal which has been the thrust behind the impeachment farce about to be tossed from the House to the Senate, I am flooded with enough negative thoughts to properly organize them. I am not sure Central Casting could have sent over another set of faces that would suggest so many socially unacceptable jokes. I will do my best to remember Mother’s instruction.
I know that Adam Schiff has often been referred to as being a “pencil-neck”. There has been occasional, I understand, slanders of “bug-eyed” thrown his way. But truthfully, the first term that has repeatedly popped into my mind when subjected to his almost continuous presence on TV has been “weasel”. But I have so far restrained from the public calling him such. And there is a desire on my part to be as fair as possible to actual weasels. I hope that it is duly noted that I am not calling him a pencil-necked, bug-eyed weasel and that I am given all the credit I deserve.
In the case of Representative Waters, I can only recall the age-old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. If I am to continue to heed Mother’s wishes, I should let each of you decide exactly which thousand words to use. But I have thought (privately and silently, of course) that the only thing more twisted than her closed mouth is what comes out of it when opened. Once again, I hope I am given proper credit for not allowing this to pass my lips.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
This morning we are graced with “news” that House Democrats will present two articles of impeachment to the full House. The two “charges” are probably the two most vague, unspecific, unconstitutional things they could manage to throw out without dropping the whole thing altogether, proving that at this point mostly about the 2020 election and doing as little damage to their brand as possible.
If they fail to add to these two, they will be left with “charges” that not only have nothing to do with law or the Constitution but are flaming examples of exactly what the Founders/Framers were trying to prevent. It would be hard to think of two that would better illustrate the “maladministration” suggestion rejected by Madison and the rest of the Constitutional Convention, including the man who originally suggested it.
This across-the-board coup attempt by media, Democrats, and Never Trumpers of both the open and closet varieties has moved from one hoped-for offense to another as each proved to be empty when exposed to sunlight and fresh air. Bribery, for instance, was such a buzz word only a few days ago but is nowhere to be found so far in these charges, much too specific and requires something that at least resembles evidence.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
It is not often that either Chris Mathews or Joe Scarborough are right about anything. But a couple of weeks ago, on the same day, they both used their own words to speculate that the nation was on the verge of a crisis that would endanger its very existence. Of course, they were dead wrong about what the crisis was or the reasons for the danger. As a matter of disclaimer I would like to make it clear that I did not go on an MSNBC binge. I picked up these insights from short clips. Long ago I determined that MSNBC should only be consumed with accompanying dozes of good Irish whiskey. And, unlike Irish whiskey, MSNBC should always be restricted to short, well-spaced dozes. The whiskey is always more enlightening, honest and clarifying.
Our Republic is in the middle of just the latest attack on its very nature and purpose. But it is one of the most severe and is made possible by a decades-long campaign against a culture of individual liberty which was that Republic’s springboard. The immediate threat is a knife-to-the-heart-of-self-government impeachment farce to remove a duly elected president without cause. The overall threat can go by many names but currently can best be titled modern progressivism.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Last week, the airwaves were full of media praise for Nancy Pelosi to cover for a meltdown seemly aimed at reporter James Rosen but I feel was much more a vent toward a plan going very badly. The media certainly came with both barrels. Chris Mathews and selected Hardball panelists agreed that it may well have been her “finest hour.” That tower of truth Lawrence O’Donnell celebrated her “crushing” of Rosen. Andrea Mitchell attested to Pelosi’s “deep faith” and her sincerity in citing her status as a properly raised Catholic. And the ever-so conservative of convenience David Brooks, no doubt more impressed by the crisp crease of her pantsuit than her substance, called it a “beautiful moment.”
When I bothered to watch the clip of the press conference (actually just a tight, measured statement to the reporters) and her turning on Rosen as she was leaving, my first impression was of a cornered rat striking out and releasing the frustration with its predicament. It might have been quite a bit of her own doing, but Pelosi has been cornered into calling for the bills of impeachment after losing all of the battles needed to make the measure favor her party and her ends.
A person who knows they have control of the situation does not meltdown like that. In her case, I believe she was on-board for an impeachment from the beginning but intended to play it for the full political benefit. And certainly, the present timing would be great for influencing the upcoming elections (seems to be a theme the Dems can’t escape from) if events were in their favor.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
The nature of our national founding has been under constant attack for what now has become more than a century. We are now closer than we have ever been to losing that struggle and becoming something entirely foreign to the basic concepts which have been the pillars supporting the single most successful and beneficial secular endeavor mankind has yet launched.
The crisis inflicted by illegal immigration is only one example of a many-pronged assault. It is only a piece in a mosaic but is certainly a destructive one. Like all the other pieces it strikes at some key values central to our success as a self-governing republic. One of these is, of course, culture. Another is the very necessary respect for rule of law.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Donald Trump will never have the smooth public speaking style of Ronald Reagan. I suspect that there will always be a halting pace to his speeches that would beset many of us. His natural setting for honest discussions is much more eye-to-eye and, many would say, street level. But I have come to believe that he brings an emotional honesty to both stages.
Trump’s words overlooking the Normandy site of so many brave, life and death struggles crammed into those desperate first hours on June 6, 1944, were among his best. He has actually become quite good at times. The last State of the Union was excellent. And he is believable. He may not write the full text of his speeches but I am now sure he does not leave in anything he does not believe. I do believe that the words, regardless of the author, reflect the man.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
As the Civil War drew to a close, a Texas frontier awash with millions of almost worthless, hard-twisted, wild-eyed cattle looked north to find a source of ready cash. The popular image is of the long drives toward the newly built railroads beginning to stretch across the middle plains of Kansas where a $4 Texas bovine would bring $30 to $40 for shipment back to more eastern slaughterhouses.
And it is certainly an accurate image since thousands of Texas cattle made their way to a series of Kansas railheads beginning with Abilene in 1867 and stretching to Dodge City later on. But many didn’t stop there and were headed north for the northern ranges. In fact, the first of these post-Civil War herds to land on the northern plains to be grazed was driven to Montana in 1866 by Nelson Story who used his earnings from a gold strike to outfit a Texas herd that would become both food for miners and seed stock for one of the first cattle ranches in Montana.
By the early 1870s, many Texas cattlemen were driving herds on northward to fatten on the grass of the open prairies beyond Kansas. For the most part, the traditions of an open range applied and many considered it “free grass.” By the mid-1870s the Texas Panhandle had been opened to cattle by Charles Goodnight. Although Goodnight did not believe in a “free grass” approach, he did break ground on an innovation that greatly added to the boom on the more northern ranges – foreign investment. His Panhandle JA ranch was possible because of the major investor, aristocrat John Adair (hence the JA brand). Goodnight put his faith in land ownership and the improvements and responsibilities that came with it, so he expanded the legal boundaries of the JA whenever possible as well as using long-term leases of state-owned lands.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Maman-ti (Sky-Walker) had been given the title of Do-ha-te by the Kiowa. He was not a chief but certainly was a planner of battles, a leader of raids. He was not interested in credit or prestige but was content to lead, advise and let others collect the glory. The Kiowa considered him a medicine man and prophet who lived “in the shadows of the past” and whose magic was both great and terrible. His gifts came through the Owl Spirit. He would retreat to his lodge to pray, chant and be visited by the Spirit. After a time, his followers outside would hear the rustle of owl’s wings and Maman-ti would appear from the lodge with a plan or instructions.
In January of 1871, Maman-ti and a war chief named Quitan led a raiding party into Texas. Along the Salt Creek Prairie between Fort Belknap and Fort Richardson the Kiowa came across two groups of teamsters. One was a large set of wagons and the closer group was only three wagons and driven by three black men. The raiders attacked the three wagons with the large party far in the distance. The larger party “forted up” while the smaller group tried to run for their protection. They didn’t make it, despite the brave effort of one of their number.
Behind the dead body of one of his horses, the man fought to give his companions a chance at escape. He had cut the horse loose from the harness and wagon and made his stand with a Henry rifle as the 25 Kiowa warriors sweep down. As brave as the effort was, all three teamsters lost their lives and the warriors moved in to take scalps.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Last Tuesday night, January 8, 2019, will prove to be a watershed moment for our republic. The direction the water takes is yet to be determined., for the most part, part will be up to us, or to be more exact to our clarity and will as a free people.
In less than ten minutes President Trump set the stage for a test of wills which will either continue us on a path of the total rejection of our unique heritage of liberty and its transformation to yet another pale version of centralized tyranny which has characterized the vast bulk of human history, or can begin a long, difficult but determined struggle to reestablish the American Character so central to our original national purpose. Never doubt that the question before us is as fundamental as the type of a people we will be. And never doubt that if this moment is lost, we may well never be able to turn the tide of history to save the very nature of our people.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
I recently became the heir to an old tattered cardboard box sent to me by my uncle’s widow by way of my daughter who had stopped off to see her as she passed through the mountain states on a summer trip. The lady expressed how I “should be the one to have this” and I now have its contents tucked away in different “safe places.” The box contented what was left of “his war stuff.”
There were items that brought memories of when I would take some of them from the dresser drawers at my grandmother’s. One was the seemingly strange piece of German technology which made the weird sound as you pressed repeatedly on its small, geared lever. It fit in the palm of the hand and generated a light when the lever was pumped but it also produced that sound which my uncle recalled as having an almost haunting effect on a dark French night as the Nazis wandered just behind their lines.
There were other things that ranged from old patches to paperwork. But the core of that box’s contents were the medals and what his widow had called “his old army shirt.” The medals were, for the most part, still intact in their cases. The Good Conduct Metal had been thrown in with the Bronze Star Medal and the oak leaf cluster that accompanied it.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Some say that we human animals tend to favor critters from other species which reflect ourselves. I have found that to be only partly true. There are far too many humans who seek those weaker than themselves regardless of their species. It gives them a comfort of sorts and even a chance for dominance. But a real working relationship exists best when trust and respect (even a grudging one) is built between two independent and strong individuals. Dominance in these cases is only defined by directions shared.
The only thing of substance I have left to remind me of that stubborn, strong-willed, competitive horse of an odd but distinctive color is an old and faded photo taken after he had reached maturity. Which is odd. There seems to be an abundance of photos from those days taken of colts foaled by mares, horses ridden and plenty of his mother at one stage or another. And in many ways, he was the best one of them all, strong from the ground up and built to travel.
He came by his independence honestly. As much importance is normally placed on the stallion in a colt’s pedigree, most who know will tell you that the mare is more than half responsible for the youngster’s personality. And this colt had a mother with a will, more than a little bit of attitude and a twist or two all her own.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
Robert Francis O’Rourke is the latest “rising star” for the Democrat Party in Texas. He is their hope of the moment to start Texas on the path of descent into becoming the next California, a once golden state destroyed by liberal policies but consistent in sending elected Democrats to seats of power. His stated mission is to unseat Ted Cruz in the United States Senate.
Robert Francis has had plenty of national exposure, thanks to the liberal media network eager to strike a blow at the heart of Americanism. He has been given airtime on late-night national shows by Colbert, in the daylight by Ellen and a solid hour on that beacon of fake news, CNN. MSNBC even promoted him from “rising star” to “rock star.” Chuck Todd on the next worst thing (NBC itself) declared him the “Bobby Kennedy of millennials.”
There is also plenty to point to in exposing him as the fraud he is. Perhaps the easiest is the one he makes over and over again (besides skateboarding onto the stage during rallies, his next best skill is talking in endless circles), the claim that he is completely funded by “grassroots” donations from Texas. He is simply too principled to accept money from PACs.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
The swirl of media around the meeting of Kanye West and President Trump spent most of its energy on personality images of the those two men and not the real issues represented concerning minorities and their actual benefit in a growing economy operating more and more on our intended liberty and less and less on the centralized power of the state. That was to be expected from a media committed to the defense of an expanding “progressive” state.
Those issues involving all American citizens, not just those considered minorities, should be the final focus of that meeting. But it was impossible for me not to look more toward the third man in the meeting. To some, he has always been a hard one to assign to any single box. In many ways, his presence there was what added the most credibility to the meeting.
I will readily admit to being a popular culture hermit despite the efforts of a 14-year-old granddaughter. I have hardly taken notice of Mr. West (or his extended family). But that man sitting to his left with the still broad shoulders, the balding and now shaved head, the graying beard, the walking cane and the still quiet, commanding presence; I have seemingly watched my whole life.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
It is not an original thought to view man’s time on earth as a constant journey in search of something; meaning, understanding, justice … truth. I suspect that this was the case well even before man had the means to write about it. I suspect that we all spend some part of our lives internally wandering in search of our definition of those things, often in the mental darkness. I am not sure if there was ever the truly honest (mortal) man that Diogenes wandered the world searching for. But I do believe there is truth. And I believe that there is a path to it. I also believe that we might not ever completely know it in this world but that the honest search of it is vital to the human race.
There are a number of observations that can be drawn from the circus that was the Kavanaugh hearings. Only one of them is that so many people are not interested in even taking the most basic steps necessary to have the most fundamental information needed to decide guilt or innocence, the truth of a matter.
The words and columns written about this during the seemingly endless drama could fill a library by now. But I sat and took a few notes while reading through just one. It was in PJ Media. It was entitled “Why Believe the Woman with No Evidence” and penned by D.C. McAllister, not just a strong woman but also an excellent writer with a clear intellect and strong sense of liberty and justice.
Summers was raised in a rural, agricultural family, survived a fun filled college career which consisted mostly of rodeo and football with just enough brain cells to fool some gulible professors type
It does not take an extensive amount of honest historical investigation to know that the racial lynching within roughly the last 150 years of American history was mostly, if not exclusively, done of members of only one political party. These were acts of fevered motion, detached from reason and justified by a self-delusional (but desperate) and false claim to some moral and intellectual superiority and insight. The term lynching has been allowed to become a racial term. But it is hardly so. It is a term for those who would desperately impose power, or retain it.
The disgraceful battle to kill the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court is only the latest cruel, vile public lynching of a good, decent and qualified person by our political left. The practice has been open for all to see in regard to judicial appointments since Ted Kennedy led with his hateful characterization of Judge Robert Bork. And we have seen it time and time again, each almost more deceitful and vicious than the one before. In the early 1990s, Clarence Thomas looked weasels like Joe Biden in the face while sitting before the same Senate committee that now is holding hearings on Kavanaugh and called the low process what it was (and is): a high tech lynching.
Thomas thankfully survived to become Justice Thomas. But the left also learned a lesson from the Thomas hearing. They sprung the Anita Hill ambush too quickly. There was time for real facts to come to light and she had no impact. There was actually time for that much-discussed FBI investigation, which certainly did not help the accuser. Even the fellow employees that Hill tried to drag into it to save face discounted her claims and some even testified on Thomas’ behalf. Most of this is forgotten in the heat of media hype and their fever to lead in the attack against Kavanaugh.