Russ Read

National security enjoyer. 1st place in Dixie Classic Fair art contest 2001. Views expressed mine alone.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

@RyanGirdusky It’s funny how some people function like the last 24 years of geopolitics never happened.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

Please tell me more about how this guy would be schooled by today’s players.

[Larry Legend☘️ @LarryBirdDaily]

The younger generation never got to see Larry Bird move like this..

[US Department of the Interior @Interior]

We’re auramaxxing Washington, D.C. ahead of America’s 250th birthday.

@SecretaryBurgum recently ordered the massive Arts of War and Arts of Peace equestrian statues for regilding for the first time since 1971.

The restoration is part of @POTUS’s effort to make the Nation’s Capital safe and beautiful. 🇺🇸

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

@HansFiene Not with that attitude.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

@Heminator @flapprdotnet Turns out distilling in an era when we didn’t know about bacteria wasn’t great for making booze.

[Wheeler Rides Again @joeridesagain]

Last week, I wrote about how the average cotton farmer got most of his calories from a corn and molasses diet. This week, I figured I’d cover the other cornerstone of his diet, pork. Pork provided the average cotton state Southerner with most of his proteins and fats, and it could be eaten year around without refrigeration. The pig was one of the few domesticated animals that could survive the pine forests, hot and humid climate, and parasites of the American South before the modern era. Survival is an understatement. Pigs thrive in the South. Owing to their omnivorous nature, they can make a meal out of nearly anything from roots, tubers, berries, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, grasses, worms, grubs, insects, lizards, snakes, rodents, frogs, birds, eggs, and baby larger mammals. They have no qualms about scavenging dead animals, even in advanced states of decay. Even in the Colonial Era, the deep South had few natural predators, and almost none that would chance a fight with a healthy adult. Our swamps, coastal plains, sprawling pine forests, and mountain hollers provided the pig with a veritable all-you-can-eat buffet. Their only major weakness as a domesticated animal in the premodern era is a susceptibility, especially for young pigs, to extreme cold. But the winters in the South are mild and even the coldest of cold snaps are short lived. The Conquistadors may have been the ones looking for paradise, but the pigs that came to America in the holds of those Spanish galleons are the ones that actually found it. 

Wheeler, you may ask, why didn’t the South try raising other animals? Why not cows? Cows require that the land be converted first to pasture, and any plot of land large enough to sustain cows would be far more valuable as a cotton field. Spanish Goats do well in the American South, why didn’t the South raise more goats? There were some goats, but goats before the advent of barbed wire and electric fences are notoriously difficult to contain. A half Chinese, half black homosexual Jewish prostitute would receive a warmer welcome in a community of cotton planters than a largescale goat herder. Goats had plenty of natural predators in the South, even once they reach maturity. More importantly, goats reproduce slower and grow slower than pigs. A goat’s gestation period is roughly 150 days. A pigs gestation period is 114 days. A Spanish goat will usually have 1-2 babies. A pig will litter 8-12 babies. A goat struggles to give birth twice a year. A pig can reliably do 2.3-2.5 litters a year. A one-year-old pig will weigh 200-300 pounds. A goat will only get to 60-100 pounds during the same time period.

Why wasn’t the chicken the cornerstone of the premodern Southerner’s diet? Before chicken wire, it was incredibly difficult to protect chickens from predators. The South was full of hawks, opossums, snakes, foxes, owls, skunks, bobcats, and raccoons looking for a nice chicken or egg dinner. More importantly, a chicken cannot reliably forage its diet like a pig can. You’d be planting crops that have only a third of the value of cotton to input into a chicken operation that won’t produce as much meat as pigs. And before refrigeration, the only reliable way to preserve a significant quantity of chicken was canning. Self-sealing canning jars were not invented until 1915. Sheep? I’ll let you come to the conclusion why an extremely humid climate that has average summer highs in the 90’s won’t be ideal for sheep. There were some around the coasts, but it was never more than a cottage industry.

So fellow Southerner, you are what you ate, and what you ate was pork. Lots of it. More than any other animal until the 1960’s. Soon, I’ll explain the process of turning live pigs into shelf stable meat before refrigeration or electricity. Until next time, Deo vindice friends.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

My unpopular opinion is that future wars are going to look a lot more like this than you think.

[Alaric The Barbarian @0xAlaric]

There is a Stone Age tribal war happening in Colombia right now

The Misak and Nasa people are fighting over a section of land. Yes this is real, and yes they are using traditional weapons. Video is from May 21st, 2026.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

Congratulations, Folletts! Honored to have joined you on your special day.

[Andrew Follett @AndrewCFollett]

10 years ago today!

When this photo was taken, all these people worked at @DailyCaller.

Now all of them are hugely influential thanks to @GPIngersoll and @CBedfordDC wise leadership!

From left to right:

@BlakeSNeff , now of the Charlie Kirk show.

@kathrynw5 CBS White House correspondent

@juliegraceb of Sources Say who does Hill stuff

My wife @chellivia, who is far more influential than me...whos 2nd book drops soon...and who is the mother of our many children.

Me.

@RussCanRead of one of the greatest usernames ever and a defense guy.

@JPCarrollDC1 of many national security things!

[Kevin Bass @kevinnbass]

Imagine spending your whole life becoming an academic expert. Then a random guy online tells you that you are wrong about your own field. And he's right. But you can never admit that. Because it would mean admitting that your life was a lie. That is the dilemma of many academics.

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

#BREAK: CBS NEWS has terminated Scott Pelley's contract.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

The homogeneity of things like logos is one of the clearest signs of cultural decline.

We no longer appreciate unique and beautiful things, so brands appeal to the most basic looking things imaginable.

[Sean @seandreilly]

3 of the most egregious logo downgrades in NBA history

[Dennis M. Hogan @dennismhogan]

I think a giant imperial military blob with an unwieldy and overfunded warfare state making catastrophic tactical decisions by misusing expensive equipment in unsuitable conditions is among the most believable things in that entire movie

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

@JoshuaBarzon @official_flo @FLAGALine @Floridaman @nbc6 @RonDeSantis @SunSentinel @FloridaTourism @FlaPanthers @FloridaGators D for me. Sanibel island is basically paradise and I’ve never had a better cigar than I had at the Breakers in West Palm.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

As the former TSA head of public affairs, I regret to inform James that his emotional support trout would not be allowed through airport security as it’s tank exceeds the 3-1-1 liquids rule.

[James Walker @jwalkermobile]

Boarding this morning’s flight with my emotional support trout…

[James Walker @jwalkermobile]

Boarding this morning’s flight with my emotional support trout…

[𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉 @OrevaZSN]

Explaining to children that they shouldn't worry about a career because the world will be completely unlivable in 15 years and that death will be a sweet relief from living in a nuclear wasteland is probably the hardest part of working at Build-A-Bear.

[Sully @sullymygoodname]

Being a dad is realizing your dad didnt actually give a shit about your bedtime he just wanted you to go to bed so he could do other things.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

It was a ruin for the last 10 years.

[Igor Bobic @igorbobic]

Embarrassed to say I never knew this was a fountain

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

Ladies, I’m going to solve your Father’s Day shopping problems right now.

The answer: Bass Pro Shops gift card

Your husband/dad likes hiking/camping?

Bass pro shop gift card.

Hunting/fishing?

Bass pro shops gift card.

Cooking/grilling?

Bass

pro

Shops

gift

Card.

No dad is going to be upset when he sees a bass pro shops gift card on Father’s Day.

[Russ Read @RussCanRead]

Sheer incompetence and callousness on the part of the police officers.

This is the kind of thing that should have the entire agency dissolved.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

In his final moments, Henry Nowak told police officers nine times “I can’t breathe” and four times that he had been stabbed.

In response police officer dragged him across the gravel, handcuffed and read him his rights.

It was the last thing Henry heard before he died.

[The Steampunk Gentleman Gamer ⚙️🚂🎩 @quirked_up_anzu]

Right before Porkins is shot down, Biggs yells "Eject!" at him as if they aren't all wearing open helmets and wouldn't just die anyway in the vacuum of space