Reading 2022

Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual Mk1-MOD1 by Jocko Willink 

Redemption (Ryan Drake Book One) by Will Jordan

Knee Ability Zero by Ben Patrick

Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of my Spiritual Quest by Dan Millman

Robert B. Parker's Bye Bye Baby (Spenser Book 50) by Ace Atkins 

Behind the Mask: My Autobiography by Tyson Fury 

Demolition Man by Richard Osborne

The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith

Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga by Benjamin Lorr 

The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance by Tom Brady

Dark Horse: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz  

Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales by Penn Jillette 

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity by Carlo M. Cipolla

The Size of Your Dreams: A Novel that Transforms Lives by Dave Mason and Chana Mason

Baby Steps Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth-- and How You Can Too by Dave Ramsey

Colonel Sanders and the American Dream by Josh Ozersky

Monster Hunter Bloodlines (Monster Hunters International Book 8) Larry Correia

Stress Less, Accomplish More: Meditation for Extraordinary Performance by Emily Fletcher  

Better Off Dead: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Killing Floor by Lee Child

Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia

The Lightning Rod: A Zig and Nola Novel by Brad Meltzer

The Cutting Season by M.W. Craven

Doctor Ice Pick by Claire Prentice

Chemical Pink by Katie Arnoldi  

Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others by Zachary Levi 

Zero Negativity: The Power of Positive Thinking by Ant Middleton

You2: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness by Price Pritchett

The Last Moriarty (A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery) by Charles Veley  

The Complete Keys to Progress by John McCallum

The Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury

No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child

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Prodigy Volume 1: The Evil Earth by Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque

Nemesis by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven 

DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told by Various 

Batman vs. Deathstroke by Christopher Priest & Carlo Pagulayan 

Black Summer by Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp

Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette

One Bad Day by Steve Rolston 

The Mystery Play: A Graphic Novel by Grant Morrison & Jon J. Muth 

Wild Children by Ales Kot and Riley Rossmo

Secret by Jonathan Hickman, Ryan Bodenheim, et al.

Kill Your Boyfriend by Grant Morrison, Philip Bond

Planet of the Capes by Larry Young and Brandon McKinney

Yoga Joe by Dan Abramson and Chris Mead. Illustrated by PK Olson

The Order Vol. 1: The Next Right Thing by Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson

Nowhere Men Volume 1: Fates Worse Than Death by Eric Stephenson , Nate Bellegarde, et al.

The Tithe Vol. 2 by Matt Hawkins and Rahsan Ekedal

Leaving Megalopolis by Gail Simone, Jim Calafiore

Holmes by Omaha Perez

Captain Carrot and the Final Ark Paperback by Bill Morrison, Roy Thomas, Scott Shaw 

Badlands by Steven Grant, Vince Giarrano 

Absolute Authority Vol. 1 & 2 by Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch 

Doc Savage: The Silver Pyramid by Dennis O'Neil, Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert 

Challengers of the Unknown: Stolen Moments, Borrowed Time Paperback by Howard Chaykin 

Checkmate (Event Leviathan) by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev 

Event Leviathan Paperback by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev 

U.S.Agent: The Good Fight by Various

Animal Man 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Book One & Two by Grant Morrison  (Author), Chas Truog

Absolute Batman Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli

245 chin-ups for the 245th USMC Birthday.

 Split into two wkouts, because I had to do a grocery run/watch an episode of The Mandalorian. (Priorities.)

Low reps, high sets, supinated/neutral grip because elbow tendonitis is real and not a myth, apparently.

Semper Fi and all that kind of stuff.

Reading, Winter 19/20.

Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another by Matt Taibbi

Walking Dead by Greg Rucka

The Rock Says... by The Rock and Joe Layden

God's Debris: A Thought Experiment by Scott Adams

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

The Religion War by Scott Adams

House on Fire: A Novel (A Nick Heller Novel Book 4) by Joseph Finder

The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life by JL Collins

Into the Fire: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz

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The Boys Omnibus Volumes 4-6 by by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, Russ Braun, John McCrea

Bushido: The Soul of the Samurai by Inazo Nitobe, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson and Akiko Shimojima

Luther Strode Volumes 1-3 by Justin Jordan, Tradd Moore, Felipe Sobreiro

Injection Volumes 1-3 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire

Cover Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack

Fury MAX: My War Gone By Volume 1 by Garth Ennis , Goran Parlov

Batman: Damned by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo
Dead Man Logan Vol. 2: Welcome Back, Logan by Mike Henderson and Ed Brisson
Fury: Peacemaker by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

"Violence... has settled more issues in history than any other factor."

Reading, Spring 2019.

The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff

Yourdrum by Kevin Stock

The Rescue (Ryan Decker Book 1) by Steven Konkoly

Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman by Robert Updegraff

Destroy the Opposition: Programming for Powerlifting by Jamie Lewis

Sleep Like a Lion: How to Go From Average Sleep to Awesome Sleep with a Scientifically-Proven System of Sleep Tips, Tactics and Routines by Paul French

The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman

ALPHA: A Black Flagged Thriller (The Black Flagged Series Book 1) by Steven Konkoly

Monster Hunter International (Monster Hunters International Book 1) by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Vendetta (Monster Hunters International Book 2) by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Alpha (Monster Hunters International Book 3) by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Legion (Monster Hunters International Book 4) by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Nemesis (Monster Hunters International Book 5) by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Siege (Monster Hunters International Book 6) by Larry Correia

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The Wild Storm Vol. 3 Paperback by Warren Ellis, John Davis-Hunt

Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures: The Flying She-Devils in Raid on Marauder Island by Brian Clevinger, Lo Baker, Wook Jin Clark

Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures: The Nicodemus Job by Brian Clevinger, Meredith McClaren

Atomic Robo and the Spectre of Tomorrow by Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener

Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures Volume 1 TP by Brian Clevinger, John Broglia, Ryan Cody, Scott Wegener, Jeff Powell

Kill or Be Killed Volume 1-4 by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Elizabeth Breitweiser

Shazam!: Origins by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank

Batman vs. Deathstroke by Christopher Priest, Diogenes Neves

Deathstroke Vol. 3-5 by Christopher Priest, Joe Bennett, Carlo Pagulayan, Diogenes Neves

Titans: The Lazarus Contract by Christopher Priest, Dan Abnett, Brett Booth

#thestruggle

Reading - Summer 18 - "When done right, comics are a cognitive whetstone..."

"...providing two or three or more different but entangled streams of information in a single panel. Processing what you’re being shown, along with what’s being said, along with what you’re being told, in conjunction with the shifting multiple velocities of imaginary time, and the action of the space between panels that Scott McCloud defines as closure… Comics require a little more of your brain than other visual media. They should just hand them out to being to stave off Alzheimer’s." - Warren Ellis

Artemis by Andy Weir

Ali vs. Inoki: The Forgotten Fight That Inspired Mixed Martial Arts and Launched Sports Entertainment by Josh Gross

The Leangains Method: The Art of Getting Ripped. Researched, Practiced, Perfected by Martin Berkhan

Sayonara by James Michener

Malice by Keigo Higashino

Brief Cases: More Stories From the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher 

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Way of the Warrior Kid: From Wimpy to Warrior the Navy SEAL Way: A Novel by Jocko Willink and Jon Boza 

Time Slave by John Norman

The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote by Sharyl Attkisson

Gor Series, Vol 1-9 by John Norman

Lazarus: Sourcebook Collection Volume by Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, Michael Lark & others

The Wild Storm Vol. 1 & 2 by Warren Ellis and John Davis-Hunt

The Wild Storm: Michael Cray Vol. 1 by Bryan Hill and N. Stephen Harris  

Reading - Winter 17/18.

Infinite by Jeremy Robinson

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler and Shaun Whiteside

The Force: A Novel by Don Winslow

Working for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher,‎ Vincent Chong 

Orphan X: A Novel by Gregg Hurwitz

The Nowhere Man: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz

Hellbent: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

The Kill Clause by Gregg Hurwitz

The Night Trade (A Livia Lone Novel Book 2) by Barry Eisler

Journey to Star Wars The Last Jedi: The Legends of Luke Skywalker by Ken Liu

Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours by David Mack

Black Road Volume 1: The Holy North by Brian Wood (Author),‎ Garry Brown (Artist),‎ Dave McCaig (Artist)

Black Road Volume 2: A Pagan Death Paperback by Brian Wood (Author),‎ Garry Brown (Artist),‎ Dave McCaig (Artist)

Batman: The Dark Knight: The Master Race by Frank Miller (Author, Illustrator),‎ Brian Azzarello (Author),‎ Andy Kubert (Illustrator),‎ Klaus Janson (Illustrator),‎ John Romita (Illustrator),‎ Eduardo Risso (Illustrator)

The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade by Frank Miller (Author),‎ Brian Azzarello (Author),‎ John Romita (Illustrator),‎ Peter Steigerwald (Illustrator)

Batman/The Flash: The Button Deluxe Edition by Joshua Williamson (Author),‎ Tom King (Author),‎ Jason Fabok (Illustrator),‎ Howard Porter (Illustrator)

Lazarus Vol. 5: Cull by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

Happy! Deluxe Edition Paperback by Grant Morrison (Author),‎ Darick Robertson (Artist)

James Bond Vol. 2: Eidolon by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters

The Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo

Kill Your Boyfriend by Grant Morrison and Philip Bond

Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette

Clean Room Vol. 1: Immaculate Conception  by Gail Simone (Author),‎ Jon Davis-Hunt (Illustrator)

FreakAngels Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield

Deathstroke Vol. 1: The Professional  by Christopher Priest (Author),‎ Carlo Pagulayan (Illustrator),‎ Mark Morales (Illustrator),‎ James Bennett (Illustrator),‎ Belardino Brabo (Illustrator),‎ Jason Paz (Illustrator)

The King by Rich Koslowski (Author)

Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Shattered Empire by Greg Rucka (Author),‎ Marco Checchetto (Illustrator),‎ Phil Noto (Illustrator)

Possibly the best Weekend Safety Brief ever.

Reading: July - Nov 17.

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted by Will Bowen

Night School: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child 

The Detachment (A John Rain Novel Book 7) by Barry Eisler

Crazy Horse: A Life by Larry McMurtry

Robert B. Parker's Bull River (Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch Book 6) by Robert Knott

The Hidden School: Return of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Robert B. Parker's Little White Lies by Ace Atkins

Embarrassing Confessions of a Marine Lieutenant: Operation Branding Iron by Donny O'Malley

Flight: A Novel by Sherman Alexie

Financial Peace Revisited: New Chapters on Marriage, Singles, Kids and Families by Dave Ramsey

MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins 

Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook by Tony Robbins

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett 

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

The Elephant in the Room: A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the “Alt-Right” by Jon Ronson

The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones: And the Less Amazing Adventures of Some Other Real-Life Superheroes by Jon Ronson

True Allegiance by Ben Shapiro

The Kill Society: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Swing Set by Janice Weber

American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

The Midnight Line: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter by Scott Adams

The Wild Storm Vol. 1 Paperback by Warren Ellis,‎ Jon Davis-Hunt 

Wolverine by Daniel Way: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by Daniel Way, John McCrea, Staz Johnson , Javier Saltares , Steve Dillon, Bart Sears, Ken Knudsten 

The White Donkey: Terminal Lance by Maximilian Uriarte

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 1: Berzerker Paperback by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino

Cow Boy Vol. 1 A Boy and His Horse Paperback by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulos

Wolverine: Origin - The Complete Collection by Bill Jemas, Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada, Kieron Gillen, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert

Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood by Greg Rucka, Darick Robertson

Wolverine Vol. 3: Return of the Native by Greg Rucka, Darick Robertson 

Wolverine Vol. 2: Coyote Crossing Paperback by Greg Rucka, Leandro Fernandez

Atomic Robo and the Temple of Od by Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 2: Bordertown by Jeff Lemire

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 3: The Last Ronin Paperback by Jeff Lemire

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One: The Complete Collection 

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 5: Past Lives Paperback by Jeff Lemire, Filipe Andrade,‎ Eric Nguyen 

Hulk: Planet Hulk by Greg Pak,‎ Carlo Pagulayan,‎ Aaron Lopresti,‎ Gary Frank,‎ Takeshi Miyazawa

"Outpolling the likely next president among active military while exceeding his national averages by more than 400 percent..."

Gary Johnson’s 27% Showing in Another Military Poll Is a Warning Shot to Smug Interventionists - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "...the fact that a third-party candidate with no particular foreign policy expertise is outpolling the likely next president among active military while exceeding his national averages by more than 400 percent should give Washington's default interventionists pause...

Instead, judging by this condescending Christian Science Monitor write-up (subhed: "A new poll shows Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson beating Hillary Clinton by 7 points among active military personnel, despite his proposals to cut military spending and a lack of foreign policy knowledge"), the only people that the political class deem ready for a re-think are the troops themselves. Don't these rubes understand that Johnson lacks the necessary sophistication?"

"PTSD"

"The invasion of France was made possible by the drugs. Rommel and all those tank commanders were high."

High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history | Books | The Guardian: "“I guess drugs weren’t a priority for the historians,” he says. “A crazy guy like me had to come along.” Still, crazy or not, he has done a remarkable job. 

Ian Kershaw, the British historian who is probably the world’s leading authority on Hitler and Nazi Germany, has described it as “a serious piece of scholarship”. 

Unlikely as it sounds, it was Ohler’s friend, the Berlin DJ Alexander Kramer, who first put him on to the idea. “He’s like a medium for that time,” says Ohler. “He has this huge library, and he knows all the music from the 20s. One night he said to me: ‘Do you know the massive role drugs played in National Socialism?’ I told him that I didn’t, but that it sounded true – and I knew immediately it would be the subject of my next book.” His plan was to write a novel, but with his first visit to the archives that changed completely. 

There he found the papers of Dr Theodor Morell, Hitler’s personal physician, previously only a minor character in most studies of the Führer. “I knew then that this was already better than fiction.” In the months that followed, supported by the late, great German historian of the Third Reich Hans Mommsen, Ohler travelled from archive to archive, carefully gathering his material – and how much of it there was! He didn’t use half of what he found. “Look at this,” he says, jumping up. When he returns, in his hand is a copy of a letter from Martin Bormann, Hitler’s private secretary, in which he suggests that the “medication” Morell is giving the Führer needs to be regulated for the sake of his increasingly wobbly health...

Some drugs, however, had their uses, particularly in a society hell bent on keeping up with the energetic Hitler (“Germany awake!” the Nazis ordered, and the nation had no choice but to snap to attention). A substance that could “integrate shirkers, malingerers, defeatists and whiners” into the labour market might even be sanctioned. At a company called Temmler in Berlin, Dr Fritz Hauschild, its head chemist, inspired by the successful use of the American amphetamine Benzedrine at the 1936 Olympic Games, began trying to develop his own wonder drug – and a year later, he patented the first German methyl-amphetamine. Pervitin, as it was known, quickly became a sensation, used as a confidence booster and performance enhancer by everyone from secretaries to actors to train drivers (initially, it could be bought without prescription). It even made its way into confectionery. “Hildebrand chocolates are always a delight,” went the slogan. Women were recommended to eat two or three, after which they would be able to get through their housework in no time at all – with the added bonus that they would also lose weight, given the deleterious effect Pervitin had on the appetite. Ohler describes it as National Socialism in pill form."

Doping in Sport - Benzedrine: "Benzedrine is a trade name for amphetamine. The Council of Europe says it first appeared in sport at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. It was produced in 1887 and the derivative, Benzedrine, was isolated in the U.S. in 1934 by Gordon Alles. Its perceived effects gave it the street name "speed". British troops used 72 million amphetamine tablets in the Second World War and the RAF got through so many that "Methedrine won the Battle of Britain" according to one report. "

High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history | Books | The Guardian:

"In 1940, as plans were made to invade France through the Ardennes mountains, a “stimulant decree” was sent out to army doctors, recommending that soldiers take one tablet per day, two at night in short sequence, and another one or two tablets after two or three hours if necessary. The Wehrmacht ordered 35m tablets for the army and Luftwaffe, and the Temmler factory increased production. The likes of Böll, it’s fair to say, wouldn’t need to ask their parents for Pervitin again. Was Blitzkrieg, then, largely the result of the Wehrmacht’s reliance on crystal meth? How far is Ohler willing to go with this? He smiles. “Well, Mommsen always told me not to be mono-causal. But the invasion of France was made possible by the drugs. No drugs, no invasion. When Hitler heard about the plan to invade through Ardennes, he loved it [the allies were massed in northern Belgium]. But the high command said: it’s not possible, at night we have to rest, and they [the allies] will retreat and we will be stuck in the mountains. But then the stimulant decree was released, and that enabled them to stay awake for three days and three nights. Rommel [who then led one of the panzer divisions] and all those tank commanders were high – and without the tanks, they certainly wouldn’t have won...

When Hitler fell seriously ill in 1941, however, the vitamin injections that Morell had counted on no longer had any effect – and so he began to ramp things up. First, there were injections of animal hormones for this most notorious of vegetarians, and then a whole series of ever stronger medications until, at last, he began giving him a “wonder drug” called Eukodal, a designer opiate and close cousin of heroin whose chief characteristic was its potential to induce a euphoric state in the patient (today it is known as oxycodone). It wasn’t long before Hitler was receiving injections of Eukodal several times a day. Eventually he would combine it with twice daily doses of the high grade cocaine he had originally been prescribed for a problem with his ears, following an explosion in the Wolf’s Lair, his bunker on the eastern front. Did Morell deliberately turn Hitler into an addict? Or was he simply powerless to resist the Führer’s addictive personality? 

“I don’t think it was deliberate,” says Ohler. “But Hitler trusted him. When those around him tried to remove Morell in the fall of 1944, Hitler stood up for him – though by then, he knew that if he was to go, he [Hitler] would be finished. They got along very well. Morell loved to give injections, and Hitler liked to have them. He didn’t like pills because of his weak stomach and he wanted a quick effect. He was time-pressed; he thought he was going to die young.” When did Hitler realise he was an addict? “Quite late. Someone quotes him as saying to Morell: you’ve been giving me opiates all the time. But mostly, they talked about it in oblique terms. Hitler didn’t like to refer to the Eukodal. Maybe he was trying to block it off from his mind. And like any dealer, Morell was never going to say: yeah, you’re addicted, and I have something to feed that for you.” So he talked in terms of health rather than addiction? “Yes, exactly.”"

"The effect of the drugs could appear to onlookers to be little short of miraculous. One minute the Führer was so frail he could barely stand up. The next, he would be ranting unstoppably at Mussolini..."

"Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia."

War Is a Racket.

How To Be At War Forever / Boing Boing: "First, you'd need an enemy, of course, but that part would be pretty straightforward. After all, if the US government could convince the citizenry that Iraq was the 9/11 enemy but that Saudi Arabia was our friend when nineteen out of the twenty 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, it's fair to say that just about anything is possible. But the next part would be harder. On the one hand, you'd have to claim progress in the war so that the citizenry would maintain its support for the war. On the other hand, you couldn't actually defeat the enemy, lest the war end. That is to say, you'd have to maintain a longterm, delicate balance: we would always be winning in the war, but would never actually win the war...

With that balance in mind, your propaganda would likely be some version of, "Today, our military forces have achieved a significant victory. Of course, the enemy is insidious and resilient, and there is much hard work still ahead.""

"...whereas men consistently were held to the strict standards... the women were allowed lighter duties and exceptions to policy."

If you can do the job, you should get the job.  But this, if true, is bullshit.  Female Rangers Were Given Special Treatment, Sources Say : People.com: "...whereas men consistently were held to the strict standards outlined in the Ranger School's Standing Operating Procedures handbook sources say, the women were allowed lighter duties and exceptions to policy. Multiple sources told PEOPLE: 

 • Women were first sent to a special two-week training in January to get them ready for the school, which didn't start until April 20. Once there they were allowed to repeat the program until they passed – while men were held to a strict pass/fail standard. 

 • Afterward they spent months in a special platoon at Fort Benning getting, among other things, nutritional counseling and full-time training with a Ranger. 

 • While in the special platoon they were taken out to the land navigation course – a very tough part of the course that is timed – on a regular basis. The men had to see it for the first time when they went to the school. 

 • Once in the school they were allowed to repeat key parts – like patrols – while special consideration was not given to the men. 

 • A two-star general made personal appearances to cheer them along during one of the most challenging parts of the school, multiple sources tell PEOPLE. 

 The end result? Two women – First Lts. Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver – graduated August 21 (along with 381 men) and are wearing the prestigious Ranger Tab. Griest was surprised they made it. "I thought we were going to be dropped after we failed Darby [part of Benning] the second time," Griest said at a press conference before graduation. "We were offered a Day One Recycle." 

...On May 8, eight women were allowed to repeat the first phase. Once again, the women failed, sources said. They stumbled on patrols. "They were not aggressive enough," a source with knowledge of events tells PEOPLE. "They made poor combat decisions." Patrols are a crucial element in Ranger School. "If you fail patrols, it's significant, because you don't have what it takes," says Bubba Moore, a former Ranger Instructor with close ties to the Ranger and Fort Benning communities. "People will get killed." 

In late May, with more failed events, commanders reassessed what to do with the women. Five women were sent back to their home units. Three were offered the chance to start Ranger School all over again, from the first day. They accepted the offer. The three women again failed patrols during the first phase, sources say. 

That's when Gen. Miller himself arrived on the course, according to sources. Fort Benning later acknowledged to PEOPLE that Miller had gone to the training grounds while the women were on the course. A Fort Benning spokesman said Miller went there to commemorate his 30th anniversary of attending Ranger School, and did not go to pressure instructors into passing the women. Nevertheless, with Miller on scene, the women passed and progressed to the next phase. "Was it undue command influence?" a source with knowledge of events tells PEOPLE. "No matter what the general intended to convey, the instructors had no choice but to take this to mean, 'Play along.' " "The instructors knew what they were expected to do," the source says. "They did it." After the women continue to struggle, Miller showed up again, sources say. Two women passed and ultimately graduated on August 21."

Lady Death - "the Russian bitch from Hell."

via Richard Kadrey's Damn Tumblr — winkonthings: kimkrokus: rejectedprincesses: ...:

"We stopped asking such questions about America's Forever War™ a long, long time ago."

Why I totally support those 'jerks' chanting 'No more war!': "With four days to reconsider, I'm more behind the "no more war" protests than ever. In fact, I'm doubling down. I was thinking about this even before the news today that the U.S. has embarked on yet another round of military adventurism in the Middle East -- launching a bombing campaign (a "precision" bombing campaign, the Pentagon and its chosen mouthpiece Barbara Starr of CNN assure us) against ISIS terrorists in Libya. You'll recall that ISIS flourished in Libya only after the last bombing campaign in Libya by the United States and its allies created a power vacuum to be filled largely by bad guys. You may also recall that the legal justification for waging war in Libya is flimsy, at best. Pentagon officials say the new air strikes are sanctioned under the AUMF -- Authorization for Use of Military Force -- passed by Congress in 2001 after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. No matter that Libya, for all its faults, had nothing to do with 9/11. Or that ISIS, the target of the attacks, didn't exist until a decade after the World Trade Center fell. We stopped asking such questions about America's Forever War™ a long, long time ago. Or, as the mostly pro-Hillary Democrats inside the Wells Fargo Center would put it, "USA! USA!"

It should be a scandal that the United States drops bombs from flying death robots or our obscenely expensive military jets over countries like Libya, swaths of Africa, or Syria based only on a 15-year-old congressional resolution passed after an attack carried out mostly by Saudi Arabians loyal to a terrorist group that barely exists in 2016. But we're afraid of any frank discussion of that, or the recent admission by the Obama administration that U.S. military actions in nations with which we're not technically at war have killed 116 innocent civilians. That's a number that experts find ridiculously low, by the way, and doesn't as include as many as 85 Syrian civilians who were killed in late July by a U.S. airstrike -- a story that was all but ignored in the media. Even if you strongly believe that such collateral damage is necessary to defeat international terrorism, chanting "USA! USA!" to support militarism is both jingoistic and crudely callous toward the dead. 

But this isn't exactly new. During my recent Conventionapalooza, I took an hour break to watch a PBS documentary on the most notorious modern convention of them all, the 1968 DNC in Chicago. As we now know, what happened outside the halls -- the respect shown protesters in Philly compared with Mayor Daley's head-bashing "police riot" 48 years ago -- changed radically over time. But inside the hall, Democrats worked tirelessly to stifle dissidents in '68 much as they would in '16. In Chicago, delegates who supported Eugene McCarthy or other anti-Vietnam War candidates were harassed over credentials and other petty stuff, similar to complaints from Sanders delegates here. An anti-Vietnam plank was pushed out of prime time by the party bosses; when the defeated faction burst into "We Shall Overcome," Daley and the pro-Hubert Humphrey forces tried to drown them out with a band blaring "Happy Days Are Here Again." Exactly like "USA!" chants drowning out "No more war!" in our modern times. Same as it ever was."

That is, indeed, how equality works.

"All the guys who won WWII for us were smokers. So you really wanna get rid of cigarettes?"

"What if another war breaks out?" 

Adam Carolla on Being a Straight, White, Cisgendered, Upper Class Man - YouTube:

"What are you doing giving change to homeless people?"

  "They can't be trusted.  What you do is you send the money to us.  We'll make sure they get it."

"Not one for the politically correct masses, or the easily offended. Topics discussed. Heavy Metal, War on Terror, Non Conformity, Israel, Palestine, Lady Gaga, Jobs, Homeless, Political Correctness, Jesus, and so much more..."

"A good liar must have a good memory. Kissinger is a stupendous liar with a remarkable memory." - Christopher Hitchens

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002) is a documentary film inspired by Christopher Hitchens' 2001 book The Trial of Henry Kissinger, examining war crimes claimed to have been done by Henry Kissinger, the National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford."