Today, January 15, 2018, marks the launch of The Running Iron Report.
RIR is a joint venture with my good friend Craig Rullman. It’s a journalistic endeavor that seeks to gain and provide insight into the strange and tumultuous times in which we live. I guess you could say we’re living out Hunter S. Thompson’s dictum that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Or, you might say that when honor is outlawed, the honorable must turn outlaw.
Thus… a running iron.
From the Highlander bandit hero Rob Roy MacGregor to the Apache renegade Geronimo rampaging across northern Mexico, there’s a long and storied history of Rustling as Resistance. And the professional rustler needs a running iron — a simple, straightforward tool used to re-write — “run” — a brand in smoke and fire and make it your own. The Cattle Barons and the Empire of Nothing have slapped their brand on just about everything. It’s time to … alter… that. Time to break out the Running Iron.
RIR is not a “collapsitarian” SHTF prepper journal — though preparedness and resilience are virtues we strive to attain and will promote in both philosophical and practical terms. What Craig and I see is an immediate future (one that’s already here) not of apocalyptic collapse but of continuous disruption. It may, sometimes, get severe.
The natural entropy that wears down empires is already at play in the United States and the West generally. We’re skeptical that that quasi-biological process can be reversed. We’re not a serious nation anymore; we’re a reality TV show — and we’re not going to change that by voting one cast off the island and electing a new one.
And the chaos that looms is way deeper than mere politics. Artificial intelligence, the rise of robotics, the advent and wild ride of cryptocurrencies, climate change, resource depletion, mass migrations and profound demographic shifts — all of these will cause profound disruptions.
And we’re OK with that.
Because we believe in timeless values and virtues — frontier virtues; “barbarian virtues” — courage, sacrifice, self-discipline, self-reliance, physical and mental toughness. Those are precisely the qualities that serve us best when the going gets wild, wooly and weird. RIR is carrying on the tradition of Frederick Russell Burnham and Theodore Roosevelt in endeavoring in our daily practice to live out those qualities, fortifying them and promoting them with every means at our disposal.
RIR doesn’t have politics — not in the bullshit, binary Democrat/Republican, left/right sense anyway. That’s a model that has been foisted upon us by a political class that has zero interest in actually representing “the people.” It’s irrelevant.
Anybody who is interested in inculcating the frontier-barbarian virtues in themselves and the broader culture is going to find a welcoming campfire at RIR, and we welcome contributions from those who feel inclined to weigh in with comment or content.
While Craig and I are both writers by temperament and by trade, we also like to spin a yarn verbally, and podcasting is in the near future for RIR. THAT is gonna be a blast.
We aim to make RIR a commercial endeavor. As we get a little farther down the trail, we’ll be moving to a premium-content model — and we’re confident that the content will be worth laying down your hard-earned plews for. We will also be offering trade goods, featuring that killer (my SoCal beach-girl wife would say “bitchin”) Lynn Woodward-designed RIR logo. Lynn, who designed the Frontier Partisans site and the Warriors of the Wild Lands book, also designed RIR. She’s a key part of The Outfit around here.
Frontier Partisans will continue to operate as it has for the past six years and 1,000-plus posts (with 10,000-plus comments, which blows me away). Yeah, I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire (pardon the pun), but I find that the more I write, the more I write. And I expect the one endeavor to build on the other.
American warrior Jocko Willinks, who pretty much embodies the barbarian virtues, likes to say that discipline=freedom, and I’m finding that to be true. The more I focus on this work, the better my life gets. Maybe that’ll be the case for you, too.
Head on over to The Running Iron Report, scout it out and tell us what you think — what you’d like to see and hear about, what issues most interest you. It’s going to be an interesting ride.
Matthew says
Sounds interesting. I can’t wait!
This is a bit of a tangent but the whole left/right spectrum of politics is pretty useless. It was only relevant during the French Revolution. As economist Thomas Sowell says the right includes both libertarians and fascists probably the two most antithetical philosophies.
JimC says
Quite so.
Saddle Tramp says
Alright Jim & Craig…
I went straightaways over and signed up and threw in with the RIR outfit.
May you throw a big loop!
Some more inspired reading I am waiting on when I return. THRILLING EVENTS: The life of Henry Starr. Famous Cherokee Indian outlaw narrates his many adventures from boyhood to date (1914). Written in the Colorado Penitentiary by himself. My limited edition showed up in my absence on Saturday.
Weird times and thrilling events are sure to ensue at RIR. Theodore Roosevelt arranged an early pardon for Henry, but that just was not enough to change his outlaw ways. Let’s see what RIR throws our way in these all consuming days ahead. Honest outlaws!
“I will ride for the brand…
but don’t fence me in!”
— saddle tramp
VIA: Boise, Idaho after traveling up and over the Great Basin by way of 93…
JimC says
No fences!
lane batot says
YOU need to tell yer computer site developer that! Right frustrated with the “Time limits” on responses on “Frontier Partisans”! That’s a “fence” if ever there was one! Hope there ain’t such on RIR–which sounds really interesting! Sounds like the kind of place I can do a harangue about modern day trespassing(of which I am an incorrigible practicer of….), among other “outlaw” activities I may or may not have been a participant in (like the dog pound war, two-legged wolverinin’, a guerrilla motorcycle war, chicken thievin’, Chancellor public embarrassment campaigns, illegal Bigfoot impersonations, etc. etc. etc.)
FP says
Hi Lane, How about 1 hour’s riding to the next fence? I just changed time-out for commenting on both FP and RIR to 1 hour. And I’m surprised that cow-tippin’ isn’t in your above list…!
— pixel-packin’ website mama
Matthew says
I was reading the submission guidelines and wanted to ask what exactly do you want in terms of reviews and fiction?
JimC says
I’ll have to get back to you in a bit on that, Matthew (tomorrow). Thanks for the interest.
Matthew says
I just read your latest piece “The Barbarian Virtues” and really enjoyed it.
I hate to bug you but I’m still waiting to hear about what you want for submissions.
JimC says
We’re interested in pieces that both identify and suggest practical means of navigating the unraveling of the Empire of Nothing. Pieces that show some depth of thought and research, historical, scientific, sociological, etc. We want to maintain a high writing standard, but we’re not stuffy. Fiction would be entertained if the writing is strong and it hits on the themes you’re seeing evolve out of the initial postings. Not interested in Zombie Apocalypse — fiction should deal with realistic scenarios.
Hope that helps and thanks for the interest.
Matthew says
Thanks
Davide Mana says
Interesting initiative.
It would be fun to contribute. I’ll see if I can come up with something useful.
In the meantime, best wishes and keep up the good work!
JimC says
Thanks Davide. Would love to get something from you.
Paul McNamee says
Congratulations on the launch!
I was in the land of roan antelopes, wildebeests, and wookies. (But more on that later.)
I hope I can also dig deep and provide some submission content for you folks now and then.
JimC says
Yes on both subjects. Sounds like a really good break.