My view: Socialism’s promises always end in disaster
By Dave Duffy
Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019
There are lots of news stories these days about socialism’s rise in the United States, especially among the young and admirers of newly elected New York Congresswoman Alexandria...
My View: Gaining an Appreciation for Risk
By Dave Duffy
Now and then you have to make a daring move in your life or you’ll run the risk of losing your dreams. Some people do that by changing their job to one...
My View: Jury duty: The charge was rape
Dave Duffy
I was on jury duty for 2½ weeks between issues. On trial was a 21-year-old man (now 23) accused of raping a 20-year-old girl during an encounter two years previous in which both...
Putting it all on the Amtrak line for Self-Reliance magazine
By Dave Duffy
Issue #163 • January/February, 2017
As publisher of Backwoods Home Magazine for 28 years, I have not had to work as hard in recent years, as younger people like Managing Editor Jessie Denning...
Understanding the gun debate, part 2
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #162 • November/December, 2016
Click Here to read Part 1
When debating any controversial issue, the first thing one has to do is sort the lies from the truth.
On the pro-gun side, mistruths...
Understanding the gun debate, part 1
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #161 • September/October, 2016
It has been said that gun legislation and abortion are the two most polarizing issues in the United States. The former has taken the lead on both the...
Defending against terroristic mass murder
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #160 • July/August, 2016
My friend Rich Grassi is a retired cop, a masterful instructor, and one of the best writers in the tactical field today. He recently wrote that it would...
Things kids should learn before leaving high school, but don’t
By John Silveira
Issue #159 • May/June, 2016
We send generations of American children to school hoping we're preparing them for adulthood. Among the least of our expectations are that they're going to be able to...
Analyzing Obama on guns
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #158 • March/April, 2016
In early January, 2016, after announcing his "executive actions on guns" and talking on CNN's "Town Hall Meeting," President Barack Obama admitted that when he and his wife...
My View: Grand Theory vs. Stark Reality
Dave Duffy
While visiting Boston between issues, my wife, Lenie, got into a conversation about preparedness. It was a brief, but telling, discussion because our host, like many people who live in cities, had not...
Why I Hated Santa Claus
By John Silveira
December 21, 1999
Even as a little kid I didn't like Santa Claus. I liked the loot he brought; I wanted toys. With some trepidation, I even sat in his lap at the...
Is the Mainstream Media Finally Recognizing How the War on Drugs is Destroying Our...
By John Silveira
December 17, 1999
The December 1999 issue of Harper's Magazine has a headline the likes of which I'd given up ever seeing on the cover of a mainstream magazine. The newsstand jacket...
Planning the lives of generations to come
By John Silveira
March 8, 2006
I was reading the March 2006 issue of Discover Magazine and read Asteroid Watcher Worries, an interview with Clark R. Chapman, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute at...
What is reality?
By John Silveira
April 7, 2006
I don't read much. So, I missed James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, though it made best sellers lists from the New York Times to amazon.com. If the truth be...
ID cards are an idea whose time should never come
By John Silveira
October 28, 2001
I just read in the October 8th issue of U.S. News and World Report a column by Randall E. Stross in which he advocates some kind of national I.D. Card....
The Runaway
By John Silveira
February 9, 2006
My kids are grown. But it didn't come about without a lot of frustration, tribulations, and laughs.
Runaways: What do you do with a six-year-old who threatens to run away?
One woman...
