• More Sizzle in Your Steak By Debbie Young
  Scott Walker Not Afraid to Stand Up By Richard C. Young
• Iowa Imports 80% of Its Own Food By Richard C. Young
• “The Moment” I Lost Money By E.J. Smith
• Last Wednesday at the Range By E.J. Smith
• The Second Amendment-A Guarantee Against Disorder and Tyranny By Richard C. Young
• Jeb Bush a Foreign Policy Cipher By Richard C. Young
• Job-Killing, Economy-Stifling Ideas By Debbie Young
• ISIS/Somalis in Minneapolis By Richard C. Young

Sean Scallon writing in theamericanconservative.com tells readers, “The Wisconsin governor’s success was built on the Bush GOP’s failures.”

Mr. Scallon explains how governor Walker has survived because he has correctly judged middle-class workers from a mostly middle-class state.

Scallon writes:

Walker made it a point to return half his salary as a full-time county executive back to general fund, but even in this he was out of step with Republican Party of the early 2000s. This was the era of George W. Bush, 9/11, and the Global War on Terror that sprung from it. It was also the era in which another Midwestern Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, was demonstrating what an activist “big-government conservative” could do at the state level. But Walker didn’t embrace the ethos of Bush or Pawlenty, and by hewing to a limited-government ideology he positioned himself to take advantage of what was to come within the GOP and in the aftermath of the Bush years. Indeed, had the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not turned out badly, had the bailouts of 2008 not taken place, and had the disappointment of conservatives towards the Bush administration not been so intense, Walker would still be a local political figure, if that.

Read from the American Conservative: “Iowa is the heart of corn and soybean country. These two heavily subsidized crops make up the lions share of American agricultural production – and they’re pretty much inedible for the farmers who grow them, as well as for their surrounding communities. As Michael Pollan writes in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Iowa’s corn crops ‘must be processed or fed to livestock before they can feed people’.”

If you’re over 50 and lived in or around the Boston area during the 70s then you know the moment. 45 year’s ago, Mother’s Day 1970, Bobby Orr took the pass from Sanderson, scored to clinch the Stanley Cup, and “The Flying Bobby” was born.

That was the defining moment in Boston sports for Boston Globe sports-writer Kevin Paul Dupont. In describing his most important moment in Boston sports he talks about winning and losing. It made me think about making and losing money.

I lost money at a very early age and it hurt.

The summer between my Junior and Senior years at Babson I had an internship at a start-up company. I believed in the product and when my internship was over bought shares in a private-placement. It was a lot of money at that stage in my life. It IPOed and my shares were suddenly worth good money. Then the tech bust came and the rest is history.

I’ll never forget what losing that money felt like.

In writing about Bobby Orr, Dupont reminds us of what it’s like to lose. “Loss lingers, gnaws, regurgitates its pain.”

“Triumph settles quietly, confidently, in trophy cases and statues,” notes Dupont, “Loss exacts a toll. Winning pays dividends.”

I am reminded every single day that winning really does pay dividends.

How well your rifle shoots depends on a number of variables. Last Wednesday I worked on a couple of things I thought I’d share with you. First, to try and limit user-error I shot off of a bench. Over the past month or so I’ve been shooting lying down or prone. If you’ve ever shot from a prone position you know it can be like holding a yoga pose and can wear you down. Next, I wanted to see how my rifle shoots using two different brands of 168 grain .308 ammo.

The first photo is of my Remington Model 700 SPS. The next one is of the ammo. And the last is of the results from 100 yards: I worked from the upper left and clockwise beginning with 1) Winchester (upper-left), 2) Federal (upper-right), 3) Winchester (lower-left), and 4) Federal (lower-right).

I’m pretty happy with all four groups. I like the fourth group the best overall, which is the Winchester. If I had to choose between the two I’d take the Winchester but I’d be just as happy working with the Federal.

See the photos here.

Professionalsoldiers.com tells readers, “ Throughout history, disarming the populace has always preceded tyrants’ accession. Hitler, Stalin and Mao all disarmed their citizens prior to installing their murderous regimes…When our founding fathers ensured that the 2^nd Amendment was made a part of our Constitution, they were not just wasting ink. They were acting to ensure our present security was never forcibly endangered by tyrants, foreign or domestic.”

In my series The Armed American Family (Read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV) I offer a constructive menu of firearms security for All Americans.

Also be sure to check out my Liberty & Freedom map for more info:

Click the map to view.

So now Jeb Bush is attempting, in most clumsy fashion, to distance himself from his recent and ill-advised comments supporting Americas 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Simply run a thumb down a list of Jeb Bush’s foreign policy advisors and the word that jumps quickly out at a reader is Neocon. Jeb Bush is a full-blown proponent of minding, in terms of foreign policy, the business of other nations. You know, the sort of misguided adventurism that got Americans into the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghan, Libyan, and Syrian debacles.

For a clear look at how Americans should be looking at foreign policy, readers are directed to a recent Washington presentation from the Cato Institute’s Chris Preble.

Related video:

Guess what NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, Massachusett’s senator Elizabeth Warren, economist Joseph Stiglitz, DNC chairman Howard Dean, various union bosses, and celebrities Susan Sarandon and Steve Buscemi have in common? Their version of a Contract with America. “But for all the glitter associated with its big-name signers,” writes Cato Institute’s senior fellow Michael Tanner, “the manifesto is devoid of new ideas and, if enacted, could be counted on to plunge millions of Americans into poverty.”

What De Blasio, Warren, Dean, et al. are purposing is to make more “investments” in infrastructure, medical and scientific research, child care and after-school programs and increased college aid. And just how are these “investments” going to be funded? By raising taxes on the rich. Even though the top 1 percent of taxpayers already pay as much as 24 percent in federal income taxes, De Blasio/Warren & Gang would like to see that the 1 percenters “pay their fair share, through a 5 percent surtax on their income tax, among other tax increases.”

While Cato’s view on free trade differs somewhat from Young Research’s view—when one country (China) is rigging its currency against its trade partner (U.S.), as well as restricting imports, can it be called “free trade?”—there are plenty of other issues that can be agreed upon as serious contenders to the detriment of economic freedom, entrepreneurship, and upward mobility.

Mr. Tanner maintains that these views, so out of touch with reality, are meant to push the Democratic Party, especially Hillary, further to the left. Ms. Clinton has so far avoided taking positions on most issues, but recently has taken on an increasingly Warren-esque approach. Read more here from Michael Tanner on the left’s “potpourri of job-killing, economy-stifling ideas.”

The question Americans need to ask is, why have America’s immigration laws allowed Minneapolis to be a refuge for a “large Somali population” given Somalia’s deserved reputation as home base for radical Islam?

There is ample evidence of a building U.S. presence of radical Islamist fundamentalists that is largely ignored by the Obama administration, the media, and the liberal fraternity in the U.S. in general, with particular focus on college communities.

With a little planning and some creativity, you can take your steaks from good to great, advises Alan Ashkinaze, executive chef of Gallaghers Steakhouse (NYC). Of course you can always buy good aged meat, but you can also do a mock version at home. Just uncover your steak and put it in the refrigerator for up to a couple of days to take the moisture out.

Before cooking the steak, make sure the meat is at room temperature, otherwise your steak is apt to cook unevenly. And while grilling is often the preferred method, Mr. Ashkinaze also likes to pan sear it on top of the stove in a cast-iron pan before slipping it into a hot oven (450 degree). This is also my favorite method for cooking steak. Our grass-fed-to-finish steaks (whenever possible) are cooked perfectly every time.

One thing I differ with Mr. Ashinaze on is his drink of choice while eating a steak. He suggests vodka on the rocks with a splash of lime. It helps cut the fat, he says. Dick and I would reach for a Cuvee Duvalt-Blochet (DRC style from Burgundy).

Bon appetite.