(Part 3) Best leaders & notable people biographies according to redditors
We found 4,741 Reddit comments discussing the best leaders & notable people biographies. We ranked the 1,725 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
57. Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
8 mentions
Scribner Book Company
Gathering and analyzing intelligence on other countries is its primary, original role. Most directly for keeping specifically the President informed of just what the heck is developing around the world. It was started after WW2 in order to prevent another Pearl Harbor surprise. And they were not allowed to gather intelligence on US soil, but that has not been strictly observed.
This work involves gathering tasks as mundane as always reading the news in a target country, as political context matters as much as tapped phone conversations when putting together an analysis. But the movie-caliber stuff is important too. They tap phones, recruit sources in governments and industry, build a whole network of resources.
To collect this information, the CIA uses two kinds of employees. “Official cover” officers pose as diplomats in US embassies worldwide. All embassy staff will be under surveillance from the target country’s counter-intelligence organizations — their FBI equivalents — so meeting sources is risky and they might stick to less blatant parts of the job. But on the upside, they have diplomatic immunity and just get sent home if caught spying. Non-official cover officers get jobs in multinational companies or assume some invented identity that gives them a reason to be in country. They can more freely recruit local sources but must rot in prison or die if caught, unacknowledged.
Info goes back to legions of analysis teams working in offices in the US who prepare it into reports.
The CIA also engages in covert and clandestine activities meant to influence other countries. This latter role has grown, diminished, and changed in nature throughout its history depending on political climate. Some bad press from some really ugly leaks in the 70’s (I think) about the extent of these activities put a big damper on them for a while, requiring Presidential sign-offs on killings, iirc. Post 9/11, the CIA is back on the hard stuff but keeps a legion of lawyers to make sure it’s teccchhnically legal.
These cold war activities include funding and organizing Afghan resistance against communist rule, for example. A whole covert war. Also tons of election rigging, assassination, etc. Post cold war they have been involved in anti-terror activities like running the war against the Taliban and assassinating militants and their neighbors with drone missiles.
Fun fact: “covert” operations are meant to hide who is behind an operation, “clandestine” are meant to conceal the entire operation from anyone but us. Compare an assassination to a phone tap.
Edit: in one episode (2 or 3 i think) of Netflix docu series Inside the Mossad explains how Israel’s foreign intelligence uses elaborate sting operations to recruit sources. By the time they realize they’re working for Mossad, they’re in too deep to not go along with it. Intelligence orgs do this a lot when they know the people they need probably hate the org’s country. This is basically all the time for Israel spying on other middle east states. Case officers often use really impressively manipulative strategies for recruiting and controlling their local agents. “The Americans” illustrates some great examples of this, if a little more dramatic.
Edit 2A: There are a bunch of other specialized US foreign intelligence agencies, like the NSA that traditionally intercepts signals and cracks their codes.
Edit 2B: In the UK, MI6 of James Bond fame does foreign intelligence and MI5 does counter-intelligence. These existed during WW2 but back then the lines got blurred, with both organizations running their own double agents against Nazi Germany’s own two competing foreign intelligence orgs. In fact, 0% of any spies Germany sent to Britain were able to work for enough time before being caught to send anything useful over. By 1944, when the UK was more confident that they were controlling all the sources sending info to Germany (the ones that wouldn’t work for the UK as double agents radioing harmless intel back home were either dead or imprisoned), they fed Germany massive misinformation about the location (and timing?) of the D-Day Normandy invasion. Read the excellent book Operation Double Cross to learn about this incredible operation.
BOOK EDIT:
Books on the CIA I found rewarding.
“The Master of Disguise” by Tony Mendez. Ben Affleck played him in Argo. Memoir of this artist’s time in the CIA inventing disguises and forging travel documents, often to exfiltrate an exposed source. Watch or read Argo too if you haven’t, the film at least is incredibly cool because its evacuation of American diplomats from Iran as Canadian filmmakers is largely real.
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Disguise-Secret-Life-CIA/dp/0060957913/
“Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.” Recent declassifications are exposing just how terribly the CIA bungled things in the early cold war, which is what this is about. From massive nuclear arms race miscalculations that threatened the world, to unfounded communism paranoia that led to totally unnecessary coups, they used classification to hide their greatest errors.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307389006/
“Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda.” Beyond just the tech, you get insight into the lives of tech team members who would bug homes for their career. Interesting stuff. I think I read a different edition but this is probably fine.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452295475/
“Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001”
Tom Clancy name, but actually an extremely detailed history of the CIA’s 1980’s support for Afghan mujahideen against the USSR and continued involvement in the 90’s. Down to highlighting cultural generational differences within the multiple cohorts of CIA officers in charge of the long-running operation. Also highlights Pakistan’s demand to hand out all the money, both to act as kingmaker for the dominant factions and to skim hella bux off the top. Descriptions of the conflict and how the Afghans relentlessly persevered and how factions had independent deals and truces with USSR. Then much of the civil war aftermath of USSR pullout when the US stopped caring. Taliban become popular for not tolerating warlords raping local boys, an issue that remains to this day among US supported administration (a coalition of “former” warlords who you will recognize if you read the book). Great read, incredible breadth.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034669/
Nowadays most competent spy agencies don't even need this type of device, regardless of how freaking amazing it was at the time. These days, they can use special microwaves and point them at your window from anywhere with a direct line of sight. The microwaves can pick up the most minute of vibrations on the glass from any voices on the inside and translate them back into sound on the other end.
It's been rumored that this was among the technologies used to positively identify that bin Laden was at his compound in Abottabad.
Another fun fact: because of such technology (as well as the aforementioned passive bugs), in every sensitive (and perhaps all) US embassies these days, there exists an empty, completely see-through room within a room, slightly elevated
on special springs(edit: as some have pointed out to me, we don't actually know what the room is supported by) that is completely and totally soundless. It is used by Embassy personnel and any embedded CIA case officers when they need to discuss sensitive matters.Source on the fun fact: The Master of Disguise by former CIA Master of Disguise Tony Mendez. Amazing book and entirely worth a read if you are into Cold War spy craft. Some of the stories within are amazing. By the way, this is the same fellow who Ben Affleck plays in the movie Argo. He even has an exceptionally brief cameo when Ben arrives at Dulles airport (Ben stares him down briefly as he walks by him on the outside of the airport)
Edit: source on the contents of the earlier post follows:
> “But the Tchaikovsky Street embassy was an ideal site for electronic eavesdropping. Embassy and Agency security officers estimated that the KGB’s ubiquitous local employees had seeded the entire building with hard-wire and wireless bugs. The windows were silently scanned with microwaves that could reproduce the vibration of conversations into usable recordings at the numerous KGB listening posts ringing the embassy. Between the overtly inquisitive UPDK local employees and the hidden bugs, Americans, from the ambassador to the lowest-ranking Marine security guard, were subject to audio surveillance during every moment they spent in the U.S. Mission, including in their apartments.
But there were important exceptions."
> "Because American officials in many embassies needed a secure area to discuss sensitive cases, they usually went to “the Bubble”—the generic term for a clear plastic-walled enclosure, raised from the floor on transparent Plexiglas blocks and meticulously cleaned only by American hands, so that none of the local staff, no matter how ingenious they were, could attach miniature listening devices to the structure without being detected.”
Excerpt From: Antonio J. Mendez. “The Master of Disguise.” HarperCollins. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.
Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=360633124
Final edit: I should mention that this is 70s technology, so I'd hardly be surprised if there haven't been advancements made since.
https://smile.amazon.com/Delta-Force-Militarys-Secretive-Special-Operations/dp/006224969X
This book is the memoirs written by the founder of Delta Force, Charlie Beckwith. He goes over the mission and it's unfortunate failure in fine detail. The book is a good read if you are interested in such things.
Hunter couldn't have been Hunter without Nixon. His finest reporting might have been Hell's Angels, his most entertaining and broadest book might have been Las Vegas, but the most important thing he ever wrote was Campaign Trail '72. The lounge lizards and banal tawdriness of the New America were crystallized in Richard Nixon -- he gave Thompson a white whale on which to train his harpoon.
It's depressing to watch alt-culture misread Fear & Loathing as a "tune in, turn on, drop out"-story and then ignore '72 and the pieces in Shark Hunt. As confused and hopeless as he could feel sometimes the good Doctor believed in Evil and when he could personify it in a monster like Nixon he didn't hesitate to stand to post and face it down.
The Battle is famous for the extreme difference in results for the Marine and Army participants, both on different sides of the reservoir.
The marine commander Chesty Puller had saw they were overextended and prepared, creating multiple stockpile temporary bases. When the Chinese attacked, they were able to create an ordered withdrawal with multiple defense points.
The army was not as fortunate and less prepared, and suffered horrendous losses. It's really a textbook example on preparing for all situations. I learned all about this from the book The Generals
EDIT As u/Dis_mah_mobile_one pointed out, the majority of credit for the Marine's success in the battle goes to Oliver P. Smith, who commanded the 1st Marine's at Chosin
If you’re at all interested in this case, I highly recommend the book Black Hearts, which investigates the incident and everyone involved in extreme detail. It’s an exhaustive, practically bottomless chronology of military incompetence and inhumanity. Oddly enough I was exposed to it because it was on the official reading list of the Marine Corps a few years ago, ostensibly as a lesson on the consequences of a poor command environment. But anyone who has served can tell you that everything the book catalogued is just business as usual for the military.
I fucking hate Scientology, but please don't spread false information. It only makes it more difficult for people to tell that Scientology is full of shit.
Ron Hubbard died in his motorhome on his ranch in Creston, CA. An autopsy was performed and then the body was cremated. The circumstances were suspicious and his followers were told that he had left his body for a higher plane.
Source: Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion (Scientology expose), also see wikipedia
>Political Climate around how badly we were losing in Vietnam ended the Vietnam war.
The urgency of withdraw had everything to do with war weariness and public perception, and absolutely nothing to do with how the war was actually going.
The US wasn't "badly losing" as you put it, in fact the opposite was true. Tet shattered the northern army. At the same time Westmoreland and his costly/ineffective search & destroy was out, while Abrams and his extremely effective clear & hold strategy was in. The metrics illustrating the loss of control the North had between 1966 and 1970 are staggering. You can find them in The Generals by Thomas E. Ricks.
Lol, the book now has 97% 5-star reviews. While they left all the 1-star reviews of Bernie's book up.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYE7QP0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NA00MJN/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
You can already preorder her next book btw: https://www.amazon.com/Untitled-Memoir-Hillary-Rodham-Clinton-ebook/dp/B01MYE7QP0
I'm sorry, this is more than just a few sentences, but it's the simplest (but most complete) explanation I can manage:
Scientology began in the 1950s as a mode of self-improvement therapy called Dianetics, which was invented by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics is a series of visualization techniques where two partners do a form of guided meditation through painful memories, aided by an "E-meter," or electro-galvanometer, which practitioners say can detect stressful thoughts.
As Dianetics became popular and the public swarmed to pay for lessons, training, books and seminars, Hubbard regrouped and reformed his original organization into something more like a system of franchises. Individual Scientology centers could sell therapeutic sessions (called "auditing"), books, training, etc., and send money back to the central office. These individual centers (called "orgs") also took on volunteers who would trade hours of work for auditing or courses. According to Scientology, these philosophies and techniques (called "technology") can save the world from all ills, so they encourage people to proselytize.
Hubbard continued to write higher and higher levels of teachings, which devotees could sign up to learn (for a fee). Hubbard also demanded intense loyalty from his followers. Because Scientology was taking in a lot of money, Hubbard moved in the 1960s to establish it as a church, which in the USA does not pay taxes. Thus was born the Church of Scientology.
Hubbard's tight control of the church, his personal grudges and paranoias, suspicion of outsiders, and his conspiracy theories all led over the years to a hostile and insular "us vs. them" spirit in the Church of Scientology. Governments are suspect, and psychologists/psychiatrists are considered the enemy of mankind. Committing crimes to interfere with these enemies is quietly tolerated and even encouraged.
After Hubbard's death, a young Scientologist named David Miscavige took control as head of the Church and its various other groups (things like anti-psychiatric advocacy groups, drug rehab programs which preach Scientology doctrines, and many more). He, like Hubbard, is a paranoid and hostile leader.
Many Scientologists have left the church in recent years, dissatisfied with one or more of the following things:
Janet Reitman's book Inside Scientology is a great guide if you want to know more.
It'll be a bear either way still, arty just denies some strongpoints and thins the enemy ranks a little.
Read House to House by SSG Bellavia about the time the Americans took Fallujah, it was still a bitch even with all that hardware and preparation.
Maybe ISIS is less skilled in guerilla warfare & urban fighting than the insurgents and fedayeen were back then though - let's hope so at least for the Iraqi's sakes.
This is probably up there... Mahmudiyah rape and killings
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death
People who are interested in the Shuttle program should really read Riding Rockets by astronaut Mike Mullane.
Great look into the NASA organization, and the mentality of the astronauts leading up to, and following the shuttle program disasters.
I recommend a book called House to House. It goes into great detail about urban combat that U.S. Forces faced in the Battle of Fallujah. A good portion of the book focuses specifically on his breaching of a single house, including how fortified it is.
They usually fly. There's a book called Warthog that talks about flying over in the A-10A during the first Gulf War. One thing to note is the A model didn't have an autopilot, and they followed a tanker for most, if not all, of the way, for navigation, refueling, and the weather radar the tanker had (they encountered a thunderstorm on the way and how that affected the flight).
Read "Inside Scientology" - it is a fascinating read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A7K68UY/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
You can also read Tony’s books,
The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060957913/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_XLXZBb54T2120
Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0UQC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_rOXZBbD115EQX
Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History https://www.amazon.com/dp/0147509734/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_POXZBbNX1N9MF
Jon Krakaur wrote a book, as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Where-Men-Win-Glory-Odyssey/dp/0385522266
For what it's worth, the Second Battle of Fallujah was a joint operation between the hooahs and the Marines. The city was cut in half and each half given to one branch.
The best book I've read on it is SSgt Bellavia's novel ["House to House."] (http://www.amazon.com/House-An-Epic-Memoir-War/dp/1416596607) Though it's a personal memoir by a soldier, it still offers some great insight into the battle.
Lots and lots of masturbation.
Speculating if latest teenage pop star is legal yet.
Find dangerous insects. Pick up dangerous insects with crude dangerous insect trapping device. Force dangerous insects to fight to the death. Disregard the fact that you're in a war zone in one of the oldest areas of the World, and that a camel spider and scorpion fighting it out is more exciting.
Masturbate more.
EDIT: I recommend you read Kaboom and/or My War. Both portray a really good, typical combat deployment. Read This Man's Army for the Afghanistan version of those two (be warned - as impressive as Exum's accomplishments are, the guy shows off too much for my taste. Still a good read).
EDIT 2: Also read House-to-House if you want to know what a real major combat operation is like.
I feel this has been a blessing to them and their country. It has shaken up the elites and engaged the masses like never before. It has blown open the lid of secrecy around how the leaders of their nation are picked and exposed how truly stacked it is against the American citizen. And it comes at a time that I feel is desperately needed. Their government is beyond dysfunctional, their people are suffering from mass unemployment (though their numbers are fudged to never reflect this), race baiting everywhere, PC culture, and massive numbers of illegals are flooding their borders. People are furious as they watch their country turn into a disaster.
I don't think either of them is fucked. This is what they need to clean up their act before its too late. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK
These don't count?
Halberstam's pretty keen on Jordan, but even he lists off some repugnant behavior.
Right? I read an excerpt from a book while ago about A-10 pilots during the first Gulf War. Apparently a lot of them flew their own planes from America to the Middle East. Anyways during this long flight one pilot had his instruments freeze up on him and then he rolled his plane while looking over his shoulder but didn't realize any of this. It wasn't until his wingman looked over, saw him upside down, and then he had to figure which one of them was right side up!
Source.
The CIA largely had to get away from that old-school white culture in the 70's. Think Allen Dulles and William Raborn, vice William Colby opening up the CIA to Congressional scrutiny. Big culture shift because they needed assets worldwide and couldn't get by on upper class OSS-era white people.
There's a good book by the guy who did the technical work for the Iran rescue that touches on the shift in culture during the Cold War in order to make the agency more effective.
From what I recall reading it's the effortless way the blood flows in space that gives you a mildly uncontrollable trouser snake.
That bit (and I think the boobies question) is buried somewhere in the book Riding Rockets.
> You're thinking of STS-27. Over 700 tiles damaged by debris from one of the SRBs.
NASA astronaut Mike Mullane flew on that flight, and he goes into detail on that incident in his memoir 'Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut'. Let's just say he wasn't a happy camper.
It's one of the better astronaut memoirs out there. Mullane has an extreme sense of humor. A Highly recommended insider view of how NASA really operates...
https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Rockets-Outrageous-Shuttle-Astronaut/dp/0743276833
You're not wrong in these cases.
Pat Tillman had plenty of weird things going on, but I'm of the belief it was friendly fire. It doesn't excuse the fact his leadership's first instinct was to try and cover up their screw-up. But the system did spit out the fact they did and gave the public the 'truth'. I can't say it did/didn't happen like CID stated in their report, but they're pretty good about keeping stuff nuetral and calling it like it is. The situation also has the ring of truth to it in my experience. I'm not saying you couldn't understand because you haven't been there; but many conspiracy folks imagine malfeasance when confusion and stupidity are truly the culprits and tragedy is overwhelming. Our need for logical reasons and want of vengeance for someone to blame is usually the driving force for this and is very understandable.
My Lai is a huge black eye for the Army, and we should be called out on it. We use it as training aids to show how a pilot displayed moral courage and saved those that weren't killed immediately. He's lauded as a hero, but we really don't do the right thing and pile shame on Lt Calley or his commander CPT Medina. Or the sister companies doing the same thing in next sector over under their commander (whose name I couldn't easily find) or roast the BN Commander who set the conditions for the massacre.
We've tried to get past that incident, and use it to tell everyone that comes in about personal courage not necessarily being facing a physical danger.
But we aren't perfect as an organization. Not everyone serves with honor. My Lai was Vietnam, but this happened in 2006. The Soldiers involved tried covering it up, but one of the folks broke down and told a friend about it because he was having issues in dealing with the fact he helped carry it out. PFC Watts did the right thing and turned his fellow Soldiers in.
He got an unbelievable amount of shit, and there was a very serious round of discussions about leaving him there with the people he turned in would be killing him by proxy. Eventually he was taken out of the base and told his story to the right folks at CID and the rest is our unfortunate history. Good news is that PFC Watts is alive and well, and that the folks involved are rotting in prison. Bad news is we failed as an organization to stop this from happening and we also pushed PFC Watts out of the Army and he's gotten death threats for years after.
More on the situation is in book Blackhearts.
Doesn't really line up 100% but could be Soldat by Siegfried Knappe.
https://www.amazon.com/Soldat-Reflections-German-Soldier-1936-1949/dp/0440215269
Autobiography of a Yogi
Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man
Thank you for the link.
David Bellavia’s book, House to House , has some great firsthand examples of how armor (both Bradley APC’s and Abrams) were crucial to the survival of their particular infantry unit during the Second Battle of Fallujah for multiple reasons.
On a related note, General Dynamics Griffin APC prototype has a cannon that can elevate 85 degrees, in order to engage rooftop threats in urban terrain - I believe the video references this is due to it being an army requirement.
https://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business-Life/dp/0553384619
https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537
It's actually more complicated than that, but your instinct is correct!
At one point after the war, he was trying to get help for certain "ailments" (not the ones he claimed he suffered during the war - just ulcers, and generally feeling bad etc.) and was denied disability several times by the Veteran's Administration. Then at one point pre-Dianetics, he requested psychotherapy (which was a new field then), and wrote a detailed letter requesting it and telling his symptoms. It was also denied. My understanding is that he was trying to get more money out of the disability department, it seems.
Then, when he wrote Dianetics, and some fans set up Dianetics groups and he went out doing demonstrations and lectures, he tried to get the American Psychiatric Association to pay attention and give him credibility. He wrote them letters, talked about his groundbreaking "research", and had hoped to become the new Freud or Jung or the rockstar of psychiatry. They investigated and denied him and most of them sort of called what he did pseudoscience and quackery.
THEN, he started coming out with ever-increasing tirades in writing and lectures that basically said that the "psyches" (psychologists and psychiatrists) were evil and out to get them, etc. He went on to say that Dianetics cured so many illnesses that it was taking business and credibility away from them, so they were out to destroy him. His writing and lectures got increasingly anti-psyche over time, leading to the current incarnation.
However, pretty much everyone was out to destroy him, if you ask him.
Those days (around when Scientology was formed, post-Dianetics), he was also on about the communists. He ghost-wrote what he claimed was a communist brainwashing manual and held it up as proof that they were awful - as well as wrote a plethora of letters to the FBI accusing his enemies of being communists (remember McCarthyism and the Red Scare of the 50s/60s?). Many of those people had just wronged him in some way - it's obvious that he was trying to use the FBI and red scare to destroy people he didn't like.
Then the FBI didn't respond as he wanted (they called him something like "unstable" or "unhinged" in internal documents), so they became the enemy.
Of course, by that time, he'd had more accusations about money issues against him. He stole and ran away with and misappropriated money from people like Jack Parsons, some early donors/supporters, and the people running his Dianetics Foundation, among others. Some of those money issues became criminal-ish.
And he'd run afoul of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) by making claims about what Dianetics and the e-meter could do health-wise (curing cancer, making the blind see, none of it true, of course). So when the FBI didn't listen to him and he was under scrutiny for a bunch of other stuff, the FBI and the government became the enemy. That was part of the advent of the religious cloaking (going from a pop-psychology thing and making it a religion), to decrease government scrutiny in many ways (and avoid taxes).
Basically, this was a man who didn't suffer narcissistic wounds lightly. When someone dismissed him, didn't listen to or believe him, or made him feel "less than", he used his followers as pawns to insult and hurt them (always making himself the persecuted savior).
The "psyches" were only one of his many "I want to be acknowledged by you and be seen as important by you" targets who didn't give him what he craved - admiration and attention.
Go googling around for some of his letters to the FBI and Veteran's Administration and stuff like that, there's lots of very interesting reading.
His hubris also really comes across when the government of Rhodesia was trying to form a new government post-colonialism, and he went and wrote one (some would say badly) and approached some officials (mind you, as an unknown entity, swaggering about with his secretive group and being cagy about who he was) and was like "here, I wrote the constitution for you, you can thank me later". He was incredibly depressed when they were like "who is this guy?" and dismissed him.
There's a great story about him getting two bottles of pink champagne and walking up unannounced to the door of one of the government officials there and rang the doorbell, expecting to sit and have champagne with this official's wife and thereby get his "in" into the government... of course he was turned away there too.
I mean, he approached everyone in that manner - like he expected to have his ring kissed and be granted medals and seen as important. And then when he wasn't, well, that person or entity became his next target.
It's interesting stuff. If you're interested, some of the stories are researched, documented, and told in books like A Piece of Blue Sky, Bare-Faced Messiah - which was recently re-released and is incredibly documented and researched, Going Clear, Inside Scientology. And others, but I think those are the works that are informative, with incredibly researched documentation of claims.
EDIT: Oh, I also forgot that he wrote to the US Government offering his incredible knowledge and research and said that it could solve all their problems, etc. Then, when he didn't get any response after trying mightily hard, he wrote again and threatened to defect to the Soviet Union. He said they'd offered him a sweet sweet deal, with some kind of research position and budget and teaching positions or something, and if the US Government didn't take him up on it he was going to go to the communists with it instead. Of course, that was an empty threat...
He also claimed later, in lectures and stuff, to have worked on the Manhattan Project with the leading scientists, to develop the Atom Bomb. Which was, of course, not true. And he claimed at various times to have worked undercover for the CIA.
Here's a snippet from the description:
>In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet—the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics.
And here are the reviews on Amazon.
I highly recommend The Generals by Thomas Ricks.
The book compares the performance American general officers in WWII to later conflicts, mostly Vietnam and the War on Terror. It may give you some insights to how quality and competence were measured in WWII vs. the later conflicts.
To summarize:
In WWII, generals had a short period to prove that they were competent commanders; if they didn't perform well, they were either relieved of command or they died in combat. Importantly, many commanders were given a 2nd chance at command later to correct their deficiencies.
In the Vietnam / Post-Vietnam US Army, generals were often only relieved for reasons of morality; breaking the law, fraternizing with subordinates, etc. Nobody wanted to ruin someone's career just because they were a bad commander.
This video shows the author giving a summary of the book, and he also goes into his research methods and answers questions from the audience. It's an hour long, but worth the watch.
Since 1951
Thank you, and from my knowledge of Pershing (mostly from the book The Generals) I very much agree it sounds out of character.
If asked again I'll cite that argument.
The best thing would be for me to point you to where I found out about it. A yogi named Paramahansa Yogananda came to the West in 1920 and wrote the Autobiography of a Yogi which became quite well known and inspired the careers of many well known yoga teachers.
The organization he started explains the classical purpose of yoga here and goes deeper into explaining the eight steps of yoga
Classical yoga has spirituality as its base, which many redditors are allergic to. I was pretty skeptical myself in the beginning, but through the yoga methods they taught I learned to prove to myself the value of these systems in a step-by-step systematic way.
There are a great many yoga paths, but I am linking this one because it worked very well for me.
Comes out on Tuesday
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Congressman-X/dp/1634139739/
Enjoy, great read. After this I would suggest Soldat. https://www.amazon.ca/Soldat-Reflections-German-Soldier-1936-1949/dp/0440215269
I'd just like to take the chance to mention this here
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Scientology-Americas-Secretive-Religion/dp/B00A7K68UY
Having read the book twice... jesus christ, people are stupid.
First of all, can I just say how much I love giving and receiving book recommendations? I was a religious studies major in college (and was even a T.A. in the World Religions class) so, this is right up my alley. So, I'm just going to take a seat in front of my book cases...
General:
Christianity:
Judaism:
Islam:
Buddhism:
Taoism:
Atheism:
A good book on this phenomena (The Marshall System) is "The Generals" by Tom Ricks
https://www.amazon.com/Generals-American-Military-Command-World/dp/0143124099
Spot on, ViolatedChimp.
There seems to be a lack of understanding here about how people rise in the chain of command in the military. Many points have been made about a lack of job feed-back, no evaluation of job performance, etc. But the reality is that you don't get to that rank in the military unless you are extremely qualified for the job and execute it extremely well. Essentially the job title itself is it's own authority. Or at least, you don't get to evaluate a general's unless you are as qualified as he is. There is a reason military officials are not elected. :)
The last 80 years of history of how American military officials are hired and fired is detailed very well in the book The Generals by Thomas E. Ricks. I recommend it highly.
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Generals-American-Military-Command/dp/0143124099
I'm currently reading Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman and your pictures immediately made me think of Pat Tillman.
Good luck man.
I'd also highly recommend Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.
He bought that for his wife (who spent a lot of her time there but has since passed away). He rarely spent any time there. http://www.amazon.com/The-Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business/dp/0553384619/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335731209&sr=8-1
check PM
Also the book is the Schroeder book:
http://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business-Life/dp/0553384619
I found that More than a game by Phil Jackson was an excellent book. It basically is a look into the life and coaching philosophy of one of the greatest coaches of all time as well as an inside look into the 2000 champion Lakers.
Also the Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons is an essential read for all NBA fans.
EDIT: I recently also read the Jordan Rules by Sam Smith. It isn't a particularly eye opening book, but basically it's about the 1990-1991 NBA championship season from the Chicago Bulls perspective, and also a look into MJ's transformation from a ball hogging douchebag to the greatest of all time. Good read.
Or too much Sarah Vowell. :-)
You should read Riding Rockets, Much Mullane's autobiography. He's one of the crew from that mission. But also a hilarious and sarcastic guy who has a lot of interesting (both reverent of and hostile toward the US space program) perspectives and stories.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0743276833/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506556262&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=riding+rockets&dpPl=1&dpID=51VznMUbydL&ref=plSrch
I just finished reading Warthog - Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War and it was awesome. If you love this plane or are simply interested in the roles of airplanes in the war theatre, the planning that goes into it and the effect pilots have on it, read this book.
I never understood just how powerful this plane was in the Gulf War. By the end, it wasn't just the A-10. It was the OFOA-10G. Yep, it fulfilled so many roles in combat. The book is filled with first person accounts of the pilots, so the combat description is awesome.
“It does not help leftist causes to make people think government is full of poltroons and charlatans.”
The only problem with Barnie Frank is he defends the indefensible. Granted the Democrats deserve a lot less scorn than Republicans, but they ALL roll around in the Washington filth, caring more about raising money for their next election, than the people's business. Probably 90% of the legislation signed into law since Bernie Sanders arrived in congress has been written by lobbyists on behalf of corporations. But don't take my word for it...
So I just posted this a while back but you may want to start from the first post (it's a series).
Also - this book might help. PDF
Read the book by Tony Mendez before the story was made into a shitty movie. It details his life and how he got involved in the CIA and revolutionized the way they utilize disguises. Fantastic read.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Master-Disguise-Secret-Life/dp/0060957913
Edit: His book 'Argo' actually sucks. This one was much more enjoyable and he discusses the operation quite a bit.
Start at the beginning: http://www.amazon.com/Delta-Force-Militarys-Secretive-Special-Operations/dp/006224969X
Well if you like Armstrong, she wrote Buddha but this was part of the Penguin short biographies series and that rather restricted her scope. For that and other reasons I didn't much like it (mine is on top if you look at the negative reviews).
Huston Smith's The World's Religions includes Hinduism and Buddhism. It's regarded as a classic. Search Amazon on "history religion" to see many others.
Weeeell, it's quite hard to explain it all in a post on reddit. First of all, Buddhist does not consider Buddha to become or transform into a god.
My advice is to read some book about it. For instance Buddha by Karen Armstrong. It's about the person Buddha rather than his teachings. http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Penguin-Lives-Biographies-Armstrong/dp/0143034367
Good luck!
I was going to say "this happened again!?" But then saw that this article was from 2006. If you want to read a book about this, as well as the general mess that their platoon went through, read The Black Hearts.
Please don't treat this as if the west was not capable of the same crimes. It's quite the opposite and a lie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_massacre
There, brave US serviceman killed 24 civilians. All murderers of the Haditha massacre walked. None were convicted. If the US is any good at anything, it is at covering up war crimes. And if you could stomach that, have a look at the next one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings
And if you want to find people justifying this rape and killing of a 14y old girl by talking about how stressful these poor soldiers were, just have a look at the comments of this book on amazon, :
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Hearts-Platoons-Descent-Triangle/dp/0307450767
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death
Where Men Win Glory is a great but heartbreaking book about Pat's life.
The book in the first photo.
"Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier""
Soldat is a primary source written decades after the war of a chief of staff soldier in the army and he served in Berlin during the last days
https://www.amazon.com/Soldat-Reflections-German-Soldier-1936-1949/dp/0440215269/
> Siegfried Knappe fought, was wounded, and survived battles in nearly every major Wehrmacht campaign. His astonishing career begins with Hitler’s rise to power—and ends with a five-year term in a Russian prison camp, after the Allies rolled victoriously into the smoking rubble of Berlin. The enormous range of Knappe’s fighting experiences provides an unrivaled combat history of World War II, and a great deal more besides.
> Based on Knappe’s wartime diaries, filled with 16 pages of photos he smuggled into the West at war’s end, Soldat delivers a rare opportunity for the reader to understand how a ruthless psychopath motivated an entire generation of ordinary Germans to carry out his monstrous schemes . . . and offers stunning insight into the life of a soldier in Hitler’s army.
Thanks for your response. I was wondering if you have the time, if you could elaborate on some of the stuff you said:
>I'm not a typical Trump follower, I do agree with a lot of left p.o.v too, but Trumps "ideas" were more important to me than some of Hillary's.
1a. Firstly I just wanted to say I thought it was pretty funny you put the word 'ideas' in quotes. I'm not sure if you were being cheeky, but I got a chuckle out of it lol.
1b. What exactly did Trump say that drew you to him that wasn't also said and elaborated on by Hillary?
>For me it's not a future shock so much as a strategy and using Trumps good qualities to benefit the USA. Trump does have some toxic negative qualities, but let's hope the good shine brighter than the negative.
2a. What good qualities of Trump's are you referring to and how would you envision those being put to use to benefit the US?
2b. Of the toxic negative qualities that you recognize, can you see how another person would view them as antithetical to their sense of inclusion (which I hope you grant me as being necessary to having societal cohesion) to the group as a whole ("whole group" meaning the US as a nation)?
>As a nation we should be helping him be a good POTUS not turning our backs and letting the country fall apart because we didn't want him. Be the change you wish to see. Fighting and holding grudges isn't going to change anything. Especially for relations. We're still Americans no matter who is president. We have come so far and no matter what anyone says we won't allow ourselves to regress.
3a. If we could turn the clock back to 2009, would you have made the same statement to Republicans who vowed to stymie Obama on anything he would try to bring forth; or in 2010 when Tea Party candidates were elected by their constituents to continue a bloc strategy of political stymie; or in 2013 when Ted Cruz forced a government shutdown over the ACA?
3b. [Similar question to 2b] While disregarding the Democratic abstention to the inauguration, can you see how another person would view the Republican party of last 8yrs as openly hostile to working together toward compromise on the litany of issues we as a nation face, given the premise of 3a?
>Also I disagree with what's happening with journalism. For me journalism has become less about telling it like it is and more about sensationalizing, getting ratings, and playing to the majority. Journalism has a lot more narrating and objective critical thinking than even that to when I was younger. It does feel at times (during the election especially) like propaganda. People are getting tired of it and are looking else were. The places people go may not be the most trustworthy of sites. Leading to this rise in fake news. Most people just want to read the news, form their own opinion (not the journalist's opinion) and go on with their lives. They don't want to sit there and fact check, cross reference and critical think. Most working families don't have time to devote to all that. We need to as people reject the sensationalized news in favor for neutral journalism that makes people form their own conclusions rather than giving out the journalist's personal conclusion. Provoke thought.
4a. In Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, he says about Objective Journalism:
"So much for Objective Journalism. Don't bother to look for it here--not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms."
If we grant that Objective Journalism is a contradiction in terms, can we agree that the contradiction exists because of the human factor?
4b. If journalism is inherently subjective and dominated by human motives of what/how/why/when to publish, can we agree that in order for an individual consumer of publications (the voter) to be well informed it's incumbent upon that person to do their due diligence in verifying that what they're consuming is legitimate?
I'd like to hear from you on these points, but I understand if you need time to answer or aren't able to get around to it (these ended up being more in depth than I thought they'd be when I started lol).
it was called the ron paul revolution. I made a stencil for t-shirts and made 200. went to busch gardens and everyone in that park was like fuck yeah ron paul, so I'd toss them a shirt.
everybody I knew voted for Paul. shit was mega rigged as soon as it hit Iowa though.
the big thing I remember though was the MILITARY LOVED PAUL. aka most of his donations came from active and retired military because he ran on the principle we shouldn't be nation building and having 1000s of foreign military bases. he wanted to fix marijuana off schedule 1.
he wrote a good book during this time.
https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Manifesto-Ron-Paul/dp/0446537527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503187706&sr=8-1&keywords=ron+paul
If you read this book, it will give you a better experience and explanation of it.
Scientologist are crazy. Read this book
He also joined a sex commune but nobody would have sex with him and was nicknamed "Charles GetOut".
Assassination Vacation
Riding Rockets. Do you like astronaut memoirs? I like astronaut memoirs.
A physics-guru friend of mine recommends this three-pronged punch: In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, The Tao of Physics, and Autobiography of a Yogi. Haven't gotten to the third one yet myself, but the first two were quite excellent.
this is a classic? http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Yogi-Paramahansa-Yogananda/dp/0876120834
I can point you to the book that launched my exploration of that third level -- it's called "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda.
It was written in the '40s and has been a bestseller ever since. It's about the life of this guy who used techniques of meditation to get to that higher level of life, and who brought techniques of how to do that to the West.
I started using those techniques, and they worked wonderfully - it was direct proof, and although I had to put in effort, I could prove to myself whether it was really true through my own experiences (rather than having to rely on others).
If you want to talk to more people like me you can probably find them through centers you can find on this website. If you can make it down to Southern California there are some amazing places, and they have monastics there who are pretty amazing themselves. It's basically people who have dedicated their lives to focusing on this pure goodness that they have learned to find within themselves, through calming the mind so that it stops obscuring that internal "sun" of goodness.
If you find my words helpful I am happy to keep discussing it with you -- I understand how challenging life can be, and don't know what I would do without this stuff.
But it doesn't have to be this particular path -- it's like the way that many people find music healing. Any type of music can heal, as long it helps bring a connection with that level of life that healing comes from. Jazz, Classical, Soul, even Metal -- it can all be healing, as long as there is an artist that is in touch with that healing source, then they can channel it through their music. So there are also different paths to that healing level of life, and they all have different names, but they can all be channels to that level, or not, just as not all music is healing. But the wonderful thing is that when you find something that works, it can be a tremendously rich source of good things.
One of the 'classics' is Autobiography of a Yogi and another wonderful book is Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita
They basically go hand-in-hand as the Bhagavad Gita is one of the founding documents related to classical yoga (the quest to unite the individual soul with the universe).
The books don't so much give a history of meditation as much as provide a wonderful background / introduction to Eastern philosophy as well as being fun to read and inspiring to many people.
The Bhagavad Gita made me want to meditate, and the Autobiography of a Yogi gave me the further inspiration to seek the lessons from the author in how to meditate, as well as a philosophical background on classical yoga meditation systems beyond the 'yoga lite' health club version that is so prevalent today.
"You feel a wild, irrational fear clawing at you as everything in your lizard hindbrain screams at you to run." Then let them play out their character's "better judgment" struggling to deal with it.
There's a book called House to House about the US invasion of Fallujah, written by a sergeant who was there. At one point he describes an incident where he was absolutely unable to move for a minute because of fear or adrenaline or something. Despite desperately wanting to run forward, he found that his legs simply would not obey him. He recovered a few moments later, but he was quite frustrated by the experience.
I just got done reading this book Warthog: Flying the A10 in the Gulf War and I highly, highly recommend it. Great book and gives a lot of insight into what the A10 was tasked to do.
Read this: https://www.amazon.com/Warthog-Flying-10-Potomac-Warriors/dp/1574888862
I am pretty sure our current legislators have never read legislation either (Fundraising is so time consuming I seldom read any bills I vote on. Like many of my colleagues, I don't know how the legislation will be implemented, or what it'll cost). Also judging by our trade deals I don't think they know how to negotiate either. That's the whole point of Trump.
I know how Trump built his empire. You sound upset about corrupt politicians, if only there was someone currently running that can't be bought because he is funding his own campaign.
Now go back to Bernie.
Read Inside Scientology and Jenna Miscavige's (The niece of the current leader David Miscavige) Beyond Belief. I was curious and recently read these and they blew my mind. How this is still happening in the U.S. is insane. I would recommend Inside Scientology first to get a background on all of their beliefs and terminology. They have their own jargon that is incomprehensible to anyone not in the group. Jenna's story tells about her life growing up inside the Sea Org and how she had to escape. Before reading this I had no idea that they were holding people captive and using child labor. It is a very interesting subject to learn about, especially since no one ever talks about it.
Is it this one?
https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Force-Militarys-Secretive-Special-Operations/dp/006224969X
I'm not disagreeing with you, I just want to point out that the founder of Delta wrote a book.
Dead on accurate. If anyone follows this thread and wants to learn more about this aspect of Delta, they can read Charlie Beckwith's book.
He founded Delta after lobbying within the Army for years to create an American version of the SAS after serving in an officer exchange program.
Buddha by Karen Armstrong is quite good. Non-fiction though, don't know if that's what you were looking for, as vanishingstar said.
This isn't anything new, in fact there is an excellent book about how post WWII General officer ranks have been bloated at the expense of the people who actually do work.
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death was written about those murders. I got it after Justin Watt did an AMA. I couldn't get past the first chapter, it was so brutal. I think the media that shows as honest a rendition of what's going on is out there, it's (the honesty) just not in the forefront that it was during the Vietnam war.
Read Jon Krakauer's book. Apparently the movie "The Tillman Story" is good as well, but I havn't seen it.
Have you ever read anything about Pat Tillman?
It might change your perspective about what being a hero means. That man was a hero.
This. Also, there is a good book called [Soldat] (http://www.amazon.com/Soldat-Reflections-German-Soldier-1936-1949/dp/0440215269) by Siegfried Knappe, a Wehrmacht officer that fought on two fronts and visited Hitler's bunker toward the end of the war.
https://www.amazon.com/Soldat-Reflections-German-Soldier-1936-1949/dp/0440215269 this is the memoir I mentioned and it's really good, otherwise no, just assorted reading/documentaries etc.
Aesthetics are simply important to me when I am buying a physical product, especially in this day and age. I can buy an ebook without any aesthetic value whatsoever, but if I decide I like something so much that I want a physical copy, be it a movie or a CD or a book, if it applies, attraction will play a factor in my purchase. I've been looking for a non-movie cover version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for ages, simply because I don't like the glossy, absently considered DVD cover version that is most common. It doesn't need to be beautiful, since I was more than willing to buy the 70s-esque commonplace cover of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, and there are always exceptions to the movie cover rule. For instance, I bought the 80s movie edition of the Great Gatsby with the Robert Redford cover because it was comically cheesy. I can't even find a picture of it on the Internet.
In that case, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. Not an academic book, obviously, but a very good read.
The Hunter S Thompson book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 has a very in-depth look at this. I know Thompson does not necessarily meet the academic standard of this subreddit, but I think the book captures the mood of the time and has a pretty in-depth look at the nuts and bolts of politics during that campaign.
It's alright. That's why you need to educate yourself and be able to stand up for him. If you choose to defend him on facts rather than emotion you will convince people.
A general comment, read his books revolution, end the fed, and liberty defined. You can even buy them in a bundle.
another great book from a great thinker, andrew napolitano
You don't have to agree with everything these people say to support them. If you understand the core principles and believe in the constitution and free, unalienable rights, then we can at least have educated discussions about these ideas and how to deploy them. And I am writing in generalities... I'm using "you" in a very broad, non-descriptive sense.
>there is no attempt to appeal to the common man.
Yeah, most people don't get turned onto Austrian economics (or its pop-vulgar variety, what Phokus is no doubt referring to) via Rothbard or Mises. They read some absurd article or naive Aesop and start thinking, "Hey, not paying taxes means I'd have more money, which is clearly better than paying taxes!" Or they pick up one of Ron Paul's books (go ahead and tell me The Revolution: A Manifesto isn't aimed at the common man).
>It makes strong but respectful argument against Austrian economics.
He certainly states it in a respectful manner, but when he says Rothbard "simply does not understand the position he is attacking," he's not being generous is he?
https://www.amazon.com/Way-Forward-Renewing-American-Idea/dp/1455557560
https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Cruz/e/B00NPNPM34
https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Manifesto-Ron-Paul/dp/0446537527
https://www.amazon.com/John-McCain/e/B001IGNQI8
Great! I'd start with this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Manifesto-Ron-Paul/dp/0446537527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480350675&sr=8-1&keywords=ron+paul+the+revolution
and then follow up with this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Defined-Essential-Issues-Freedom/dp/1455501441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480350707&sr=8-1&keywords=ron+paul+liberty+defined
She wrote a biography about him. I thought it was pretty good, really enjoyed reading it.
3 - He has also frequently said that buying Berkshire Hathaway was the worst invement he's ever made. Berkshire Hathaway was a failing textile company that he bought in the era when textile companies across the US were closing down. Back then Buffett was making investments through many smaller companies and I believe the SEC required him to start consolidating his activities. Berkshire Hathaway was one of the places he started consolidating his activities to.
If the OP is serious about wanting to learn about Warren Buffett, they should read The Snowball. It is an exhaustively detailed book about life written a few years ago by an author that interviewed him over several years. I finished it a few months ago and loved it.
I am almost done with the book, "Inside Scientology." It's a great read if this is something you are interested in.
Ah, I was going to say if you were, I was told this book is the best one out there about Scientology.
How about a Book if you are interested. Or you can Wiki it.
basically, it is a "religion" that is based on hogwash that you have been brainwashed and not remember your past life-s. And that we are created from aliens...Well, just the delusions of a charismatic mad man. The funny thing is how they treat their followers. Which include, brainwashing, beating, spying, abuse, torture etc...and that's to their own, not the people who are against them. Very very interesting on their Modus Operandi but it gets dark very fast. i spend some time reading about them out of curiosity but i had to noped the fuck out before i go mad.
If you're going to scream Bull shit, you should be certain of what you talk about. Without a doubt, Jordan introduced long shorts and everyone til this day in the NBA copies it. Read The Jordan Rules if you want the history. Jordan wore his North Carolina jerseys under his game shorts for every game. Nike even mentioned it in a commercial he made with Spike Lee.
Edit: Here, read this.
I like books where the author spends a season with a team and Seven Seconds or Less about the Nash/Marion/Amare Suns is a really fun read.
Not from this decade, and it's a lot longer and more serious material, but I highly recommend The Jordan Rules as well.
"Last decade" -
Book of Basketball
Dream Team
When the Game was Ours
Not Last Decade, but you should read anyway -
The Jordan Rules
Assassination Vacations
https://www.amazon.com/Assassination-Vacation-Sarah-Vowell/dp/074326004X
Sarah Vowell's book "Assassination Vacation" discusses this:
"Robert Todd Lincoln, a.k.a. Jinxy McDeath, was present, or nearly so, at three assassinations–his father's, Garfield's, and McKinley's."
In the audiobook version, Robert Todd Lincoln's voice is provided by our favorite tall, red-headed talk show host.
There's a whole chapter on the attempt to find the exact spot in the fantastic Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Vowell also explores how the Garfield Memorial is kinda super gay. http://www.amazon.com/Assassination-Vacation-Sarah-Vowell/dp/074326004X
This is great! I've been reading Riding Rockets and it's amazing how little insight shuttle pilots had into what was happening on the outside of the ship. In KSP you see everything from any angle, but in real life, you've just got your own 2 eyes and any cameras someone thought to attach.
I really like this one about the arduous and long path for Mullane, the author, to fly to space. This is an easy and very interesting reading. He talks also in details about the mistakes that led some of his friends to be killed.
https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Rockets-Outrageous-Shuttle-Astronaut/dp/0743276833
Yes, classical yoga was designed to bring a person beyond the ego (so are basically all meditation systems and even religions for that matter!
So classical yoga has a great introduction in the book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.
It does not deal with the ego so much as it sets out the background of classical yoga. Paramahansa has lessons for the techniques to take one to soul consciousness beyond ego consciousness. The great thing about this path is that you can easily meet the monks and nuns who have used the techniques to go beyond ego consciousness, and so you can get in-person first-hand guidance from them.
Also, Michael Singer's book The Untethered Soul is an amazing book, and very clearly describes the process of going beyond the ego in daily life.
I would start with Michael Singer's book if you are more intellectually inclined, and the first one if you are more spiritually inclined.
In this context the soul is the "real you" as opposed to the ego or the acquired identity that masquerades as you and creates your problems and difficulties.
Plenty. Check this book out. Also, this. You just need to look for them. There are plenty out there.
http://www.amazon.com/Warthog-Flying-Potomac-Books-Warriors/dp/1574888862/
In the Gulf war, they had to fly them. It wasn't a pleasant experience apparently.
Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Congressman-X/dp/1634139739/
Have you all heard about this 86 page book that was just announced, in which an anonymous congressman addresses all kinds of information about how absolutely broken our congress has become? It's called "The Confessions of Congressman X" there was a thread about it yesterday, I believe, but I dunno how many people actually saw it out of everyone.
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Congressman-X/dp/1634139739
There are websites that calculate the integrity of these reviews. Here are a couple (hint: they both fail). (ReviewMeta, Fakespot) Looks like they have deleted more reviews than they have kept.
Same goes for RewiewMeta: https://reviewmeta.com/amazon/B01MYE7QP0?utm_source=extension&utm_content=chrome_v2.2
BIG FAT F
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America
Those corrupt governments are installed and supported by the US.
Gathering and analyzing intelligence on other countries is its primary, original role. Most directly for keeping specifically the President informed of just what the heck is developing around the world. It was started after WW2 in order to prevent another Pearl Harbor surprise. And they were not allowed to gather intelligence on US soil, but that has not been strictly observed.
This work involves gathering tasks as mundane as always reading the news in a target country, as political context matters as much as tapped phone conversations when putting together an analysis. But the movie-caliber stuff is important too. They tap phones, recruit sources in governments and industry, build a whole network of resources.
To collect this information, the CIA uses two kinds of employees. “Official cover” officers pose as diplomats in US embassies worldwide. All embassy staff will be under surveillance from the target country’s counter-intelligence organizations — their FBI equivalents — so meeting sources is risky and they might stick to less blatant parts of the job. But on the upside, they have diplomatic immunity and just get sent home if caught spying. Non-official cover officers get jobs in multinational companies or assume some invented identity that gives them a reason to be in country. They can more freely recruit local sources but must rot in prison or die if caught, unacknowledged.
Info goes back to legions of analysis teams working in offices in the US who prepare it into reports.
The CIA also engages in covert and clandestine activities meant to influence other countries. This latter role has grown, diminished, and changed in nature throughout its history depending on political climate. Some bad press from some really ugly leaks in the 70’s (I think) about the extent of these activities put a big damper on them for a while, requiring Presidential sign-offs on killings, iirc. Post 9/11, the CIA is back on the hard stuff but keeps a legion of lawyers to make sure it’s teccchhnically legal.
These cold war activities include funding and organizing Afghan resistance against communist rule, for example. A whole covert war. Also tons of election rigging, assassination, etc. Post cold war they have been involved in anti-terror activities like running the war against the Taliban and assassinating militants and their neighbors with drone missiles.
Fun fact: “covert” operations are meant to hide who is behind an operation, “clandestine” are meant to conceal the entire operation from anyone but us. Compare an assassination to a phone tap.
Edit: in one episode (2 or 3 i think) of Netflix docu series Inside the Mossad explains how Israel’s foreign intelligence uses elaborate sting operations to recruit sources. By the time they realize they’re working for Mossad, they’re in too deep to not go along with it. Intelligence orgs do this a lot when they know the people they need probably hate the org’s country. This is basically all the time for Israel spying on other middle east states. Case officers often use really impressively manipulative strategies for recruiting and controlling their local agents. “The Americans” illustrates some great examples of this, if a little more dramatic.
Edit 2A: There are a bunch of other specialized US foreign intelligence agencies, like the NSA that traditionally intercepts signals and cracks their codes.
Edit 2B: In the UK, MI6 of James Bond fame does foreign intelligence and MI5 does counter-intelligence. These existed during WW2 but back then the lines got blurred, with both organizations running their own double agents against Nazi Germany’s own two competing foreign intelligence orgs. In fact, 0% of any spies Germany sent to Britain were able to work for enough time before being caught to send anything useful over. By 1944, when the UK was more confident that they were controlling all the sources sending info to Germany (the ones that wouldn’t work for the UK as double agents radioing harmless intel back home were either dead or imprisoned), they fed Germany massive misinformation about the location (and timing?) of the D-Day Normandy invasion. Read the excellent book Operation Double Cross to learn about this incredible operation.
BOOK EDIT:
Books on the CIA I found rewarding.
“The Master of Disguise” by Tony Mendez. Ben Affleck played him in Argo. Memoir of this artist’s time in the CIA inventing disguises and forging travel documents, often to exfiltrate an exposed source. Watch or read Argo too if you haven’t, the film at least is incredibly cool because its evacuation of American diplomats from Iran as Canadian filmmakers is largely real.
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Disguise-Secret-Life-CIA/dp/0060957913/
“Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.” Recent declassifications are exposing just how terribly the CIA bungled things in the early cold war, which is what this is about. From massive nuclear arms race miscalculations that threatened the world, to unfounded communism paranoia that led to totally unnecessary coups, they used classification to hide their greatest errors.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307389006/
“Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda.” Beyond just the tech, you get insight into the lives of tech team members who would bug homes for their career. Interesting stuff. I think I read a different edition but this is probably fine.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452295475/
“Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001”
Tom Clancy name, but actually an extremely detailed history of the CIA’s 1980’s support for Afghan mujahideen against the USSR and continued involvement in the 90’s. Down to highlighting cultural generational differences within the multiple cohorts of CIA officers in charge of the long-running operation. Also highlights Pakistan’s demand to hand out all the money, both to act as kingmaker for the dominant factions and to skim hella bux off the top. Descriptions of the conflict and how the Afghans relentlessly persevered and how factions had independent deals and truces with USSR. Then much of the civil war aftermath of USSR pullout when the US stopped caring. Taliban become popular for not tolerating warlords raping local boys, an issue that remains to this day among US supported administration (a coalition of “former” warlords who you will recognize if you read the book). Great read, incredible breadth.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143034669/
According to Tony Mendez (the guy played by Ben Affleck in Argo), the USSR used laser doppler vibrometers to record conversations remotely, by measuring the vibrations sound waves were making in the windows of the American embassy from across the street! So another use for them is to record sounds in places which (for one reason or another) you can't access with a more traditional microphone.
The book it's taken from is a really good read. "Master of Disguise," which covers not only that event in Iran but the rest of the author's career with the CIA.
My uncle was covert. Officially, his cover story was that he worked in "embassy security". After he died I asked my aunt about him. She wouldn't say much, but she said that he really liked this book for its accurate portrayal.
For spec ops Inside Delta Force is fascinating. What really struck me was his claim that Vietnam absolutely had American POWs well into the 1980s - yeah, lots of people say shit like that, but the striking thing in this case was the source: a verified former Delta operative.
Inside Delta Force is excellent as well and the author is actually the friggin' founder of Delta Force, Colonel Charlie Beckwith.
Special ops within intel agencies? Ehhh...good luck. I just looked and turned up precisely buttkiss on Amazon for "cia sog".
Gotta be honest. Can't Hurt Me was a really good and different type of self-development book. That said, Delta Force: A Memoir by the Founder of the U.S. Military's Most Secretive Special-Operations Unit was an enthralling read. Not really self-development; nonetheless, motivating in the genre of special operations.
If you're familiar, Delta/CAG are the best to ever do it, IMO.
Buddha by Karen Armstrong. A good short guide to what's known about his life, and what he actually taught (as opposed to what all the successive generations of Buddhist sects have been teaching).
Most of the Pali Canon is in the form of the Buddha responding to one question or challenge or another, so you can sort of infer a personality from much of that.
I enjoyed Karen Armstrong's book Buddha which tries to paint a picture of what the actual Buddha may have been like by placing him in his correct historical and sociological context as an ascetic wanderer, philosopher and teacher on the Gangetic Plain of 2,500 years ago.
I really enjoy the book ‘Buddha’ by Karen Armstrong.
It’s less a history about Buddhism, but more a micro-history about the founder of Buddhism.
I’m not sure if it’s what you’re looking for though, because Armstrong freely acknowledges that the biography doesn’t match up to modern standards of historical biography. There’s just not enough to go on, and the myths can’t be untangled from what history remains. Still, it’s probably one of the best sources you can get on this particular topic from a neutral POV.
I really liked this one: Buddha by Karen Armstrong. She gets some of the key inflections in the story right. It is not a good book for learning the Dharma, but some of the things she said in her account are things that I recall when I'm thinking about how to practice, and that's saying a lot.
The movie Little Buddha also had a very nice rendition of the Buddha's life story, although it wasn't the main focus of the movie, and I wouldn't consider it complete.
Under Buddhism, yes, this is generally the belief followed. However, I believe that OP was specifically asking about historical substance relating to the buddha called Siddartha Gotama.
Personally, I would reccomend Karen Armstrong's book on his life, as it provides very well-consolidated insights into the world that we presume Siddartha came from. Unfortunately, I don't remember any of the texts I've read well enough to provide much more insight than that.
EDIT: Apparently Karen Armstrong is less popular than I had anticipated. I wasn't aware of this.
Well, I think Zen Koans are different than Buddha stories. Here are a few Koans - then are usually short stories and illustrations that force you to consider truth and meaning and reality and face your doubt.
A Buddha story is usually a longer account of an event that illustrates a deeper meaning, like this:
>The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Or if they were cowards and weaklings, they had smiled, trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said, “What next?” There was no reaction on his part.
>Buddha’s disciples became angry, they reacted. His closest disciple, Ananda, said, “This is too much, and we cannot tolerate it. He has to be punished for it. Otherwise everybody will start doing things like this.”
>Buddha said, “You keep silent. He has not offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me. He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me?
>“If you think on it deeply,” Buddha said, “he has spit on his own mind. I am not part of it, and I can see that this poor man must have something else to say because this is a way of saying something. Spitting is a way of saying something. There are moments when you feel that language is impotent: in deep love, in intense anger, in hate, in prayer. There are intense moments when language is impotent. Then you have to do something. When you are angry, intensely angry, you hit the person, you spit on him, you are saying something. I can understand him. He must have something more to say, that’s why I’m asking, “What next?”
>The man was even more puzzled! And Buddha said to his disciples, “I am more offended by you because you know me, and you have lived for years with me, and still you react.”
>Puzzled, confused, the man returned home. He could not sleep the whole night. When you see a Buddha, it is difficult, impossible to sleep again the way you used to sleep before. Again and again he was haunted by the experience. He could not explain it to himself, what had happened. He was trembling all over and perspiring. He had never come across such a man; he shattered his whole mind and his whole pattern, his whole past.
>The next morning he was back there. He threw himself at Buddha’s feet. Buddha asked him again, “What next? This, too, is a way of saying something that cannot be said in language. When you come and touch my feet, you are saying something that cannot be said ordinarily, for which all words are a little narrow; it cannot be contained in them.” Buddha said, “Look, Ananda, this man is again here, he is saying something. This man is a man of deep emotions.”
>The man looked at Buddha and said, “Forgive me for what I did yesterday.”
>Buddha said, “Forgive? But I am not the same man to whom you did it. The Ganges goes on flowing, it is never the same Ganges again. Every man is a river. The man you spit upon is no longer here. I look just like him, but I am not the same, much has happened in these twenty-four hours! The river has flowed so much. So I cannot forgive you because I have no grudge against you.”
>“And you also are new. I can see you are not the same man who came yesterday because that man was angry and he spit, whereas you are bowing at my feet, touching my feet. How can you be the same man? You are not the same man, so let us forget about it. Those two people, the man who spit and the man on whom he spit, both are no more. Come closer. Let us talk of something else.”
I don't really have a source for these stories, I just try to collect them when I see them. I usually just get books on Buddhism and read them, and buy the ones I like. You can usually order most any book from your local library for free. Each person has different needs and grows in a different way, so what is meaningful to me may be different from what is meaningful to you.
I gravitate mostly to Zen, and the idea of Direct Pointing. So I like to read books like D.T. Suzuki's Zen Buddhism. I am also currently reading The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali Canon for a more complete understanding of the Buddha and his teachings - and so far, it is fantastic. A more basic book on the Buddha, and a good place to start in my opinion, is Buddha by Karen Armstrong. However, it is somewhat her interpretation of the Pali Canon's account... and many Buddhists would rather go directly to the source... but I think it's a good beginning.
I also bought this version of the Tao Te Ching. I think it's fantastic, even though it's technically Tao instead of Buddhism... but I find it practically indistinguishable from Koans in its value and wisdom. And the text can be found online for free, but there are many translations.
As mentioned before, I would always first recommend The Way Of Zen as it had the most profound effect on my life and mind of all the books I've read.
Also, make sure to engage in meditation. The direct realization of non-duality is of utmost importance. Book learning and words are the shadows of meaning - direct realization is entering in the gates.
This one is a good one if you're looking for a semi-political perspective of military men.
Stephen Hook also has a great textbook on Post WW2 political theory.
The book he mentions in his AMA, Black Hearts, shines some light on the subject. It was in one of /r/army's professional development threads a few months ago.
A slight correction to your post is that Pat Tillman was an Army Ranger, not a Marine (Krakauer, 2009; Wikipedia, 2011). But indeed, he was certainly atheistic.
Would you be interested in American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Under the Banner of Heaven, or Where Men Win Glory?
Soldat ... if you have any interest in WWII this is by far the BEST account I have ever read from the German perspective.
Also, I believe someone else mentioned them, but anything by Cornelius Ryan - I've read The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far and The Last Battle and all three were absolutely fantastic ... the historical detail that are in those books are UNRIVALED
I think the best political journalism I've ever read is Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.
I love being a journalist, good luck with it.
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 - Hunter S. Thompson
Consider Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead by David Gans. This had an almost scriptural quality for me on a bus ride from Wisconsin to Texas in October 88 (first Built To Last!!) You could smoke on buses then. No one knew what the nitrous dispenser was.
HST's book on the 72 campaign can't be recommended too highly for perspective' sake: US politics, batshit then, batshit now.
> healthcare used to only be economically viable through an employer
And employers offered healthcare, costs were lower. Now that everyone has insurance, true costs are hidden and thus have been allowed to skyrocket.
Personally, I think we should:
To make healthcare cheaper, we need to make it more transparent and competitive. If patients don't see the true cost of insurance (e.g. costs are hidden behind insurance premiums), they won't look for a cheaper solution, so they'll take whatever the doctor recommends. Insurance should only cover real emergencies (e.g. you don't insure your car for oil changes), which means that they'll pay cash for routine procedures, which will allow smaller clinics to specialize and drive down prices.
Ron Paul has a good section on this in The Revolution: A Manifesto (here is his stance on his website). A quote from Gary Johnson:
> “We want Stitches-R-Us,” he said. “We would have Gallbladders-R-Us. We would have advertised pricing with advertised outcomes.”
Now, after we've opened up competition in health care and made everything more transparent, we can talk about what to do with the poor. I think that having something like Basic Income would work out because it doesn't play favorites in the market and it allows people to choose how to allocate their money (e.g. how much health care they want vs other things in their lives).
> what the ideal healthcare situation would look like in the US
The ideal situation is inexpensive, world class healthcare without government interference. The less than ideal situation is to help the poor afford inexpensive healthcare.
Really? I downvoted it for the following reasons:
>On the federal level, he sounds great -- he's against the federal government doing pretty much anything.
I'm glad that you agree that this is a great thing. This happens to be why I most like RP.
>But instead he wants to give the individual states vastly more power than the current federal and state governments combined.
False. He wants to take away power from the Federal government (for example, education), and give it back to the states. He's not advocating the creation of new powers, but if States wanted to create them, then that would be for them to decide.
>I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in the south under a Ron Paul presidency.
So don't, then; no one is asking you to. Do you live in the South now? If not, why the hell do you care whether it is a livable place (in your mind)? I personally think the South is a great place to live. If you don't, that's fine by you.
> [From a later post in the thread]Right now the Bill of Rights removes a lot of state rights and grants a lot of individual rights. Paul wants to remove most of those individual rights and let the states decide on which of them they should implement on a piecemeal basis.
This just couldn't be more wrong. The Bill of Rights cannot be taken away. They are part of the US Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land. All other powers not explicitly mentioned in it are granted to the States, or to the People. This means no criminalizing marijuana, no criminalizing abortion, no DOMA, no Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and on and on for a whole host of other issues over which there is a split consensus. Most importantly, it means no using tax dollars to subsidize businesses. If the whole population of the US decides that something is worth enacting on a national level, the Constitution can be amended. It's my understanding that this is how the Constitution was intended.
Seriously, please read Ron Paul's book, The Revolution, to find out where he is really coming from. The paperback version is 10 bucks at Amazon.
This one is excellent for beginners and highlights modern libertarian ideology
Mises literature often strays into an-cap areas, and can scare away people who are new to the idea of pure liberty.
4. Hang out with people that are legitimately loved by others.
As depicted in Buffett's biography, "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," Buffett once was asked by Georgia Tech students about his greatest success and greatest failure, to which he responded: "When you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you." He adds, "I know people who have a lot of money ... but the truth is that nobody in the world loves them....that's the ultimate test of how you have lived your life." Buffett nails it with one final statement on the secret to being loved: "The trouble with love is that you can't buy it ... The only way to get love is to be lovable ... The more you give love away, the more you get."
It is a biography. Not autobiography.
I really liked that book. I agree with your points.
 
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
by Alice Schroeder
https://amzn.com/0553384619
Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
Page 181:
'Originally conceived of in the 1960s by Charles and Ava Berner, Scientologists and teachers in California, "study technology.' was co-opted and launched by Hubbard as his own during a series of lectures he delivered at Saint Hill in 1960. Over the years, it would become Scientology's main form of indoctrination and a central facet of the church's ongoing strategy to use what, in a mainstream context, might seem valuable, or even progressive,* to draw people deeper into Scientology's alternative universe. It was based on three principles: students learn at their own pace, use physical examples — pictures, marbles, or clay models — to help work out complex concepts, and need to focus intensely on vocabulary, never skipping an unfamiliar word without looking it up in the dictionary. Anyone who wanted to move up the Bridge was required to master study technology, which was defined to Scientologists as a method of 'learning how to learn."
At the Dallas mission, students busied themselves with studying what seemed to be ordinary concepts like affinity or communication, and then with modeling them in clay, a process known as "clay demo". To make sure they understood every Avoid and concept they read, they were instructed in a process known as 'word clearing,' which entails relearning the definitions of even basic words, such as a or on. There are nine distinct types of word clearing, some done with an E-meter, some without; the most rigorous is called "Method 9," or M9. This required students to work with a partner, reading aloud from a book or, more often, from Hubbard's policies, in alternating paragraphs. Each time one partner blinked, twitched, yawned, or simply mispronounced a word, the other was required to stop, yell "Flunk!," and instruct the person to go back and find the word he or she didn't fully grasp, look it up, and then use it in sentences until the partner felt the confusion had been "cleared." Then the partners would resume reading aloud. Some critics of Scientology maintain that study tech, particularly its word-clearing and clay-demo processes, is harmful, as it essentially breaks down the entire semantic and thought structure of the individual, reducing a person to an almost childlike state. Lisa, however, loved her Scientology studies. She felt smarter, more competent. To her friends, she expressed a sense of being in control for the very first time in her life. Scientology was an adventure, and the people she met through the church were bright, friendly, easy to talk to, and united in the sense of being on a mission of self-discovery. "Nobody else that [Lisa] knew of with the exception of the woman that she worked with was involved in Scientology," said Carol Hawk. "Her family was not aware of what Scientology was ... and to be honest, I'm not sure Lisa was either. At the point, she was very young, and she was very excited about the process of learning about it, and feeling like she was doing something for herself!
Lisa began spending long hours at the mission, forgoing personal pastimes like country-western dancing, once her favorite activity. She stopped drinking and smoking pot; she also left off attending parties and family functions. Her vocabulary changed. People were "terminals". Cars, houses, clothes, jewelry, and other physical or material goods were "MEST" — matter, energy, space, and time. A person with a positive attitude was "uptone". Someone who worked hard and did well was "upstat." She was a 'thetan, and her life was not singular — she had lived many lifetimes, she informed her old friends.
Lisa's odd behavior worried Hawk. "I would say, 'Who are these people, these auditors. They're not psychologists, they're not doctors ... what happens if you're in this auditing session and this person who has no formal training gets you to a place that you can't handle?
But Lisa was sanguine. "Oh, they know how to handle any kind of situation. They know exactly the right questions to ask."
"It got to the point where we weren't really communicating because you are just kind of looking at her thinking, 'What are you talking about?'" Hawk recalled. One by one, friends drifted away. By 1984, virtually everyone left in Lisa McPherson's life was a Scientologist.'
>Journalist Janet Reitman’s Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion, out this month
Its an article about this book https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Scientology-Americas-Secretive-Religion/dp/0618883029
she doesn't know anything about the CoS that isn't already out there. the problem is that if she were a member of the CoS (not sure if she is/was) then through the auditing process she would reveal lots of personal skeletons in the closet in order to be "clear", everything from secret sexual thoughts to every lie you've ever told. the CoS then uses this as leverage against members who quit. Not many people are strong enough to allow all their dirty laundry to be aired out in public.
For a fascinating read, check out the book Inside Scientology:
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Scientology-Americas-Secretive-Religion/dp/0618883029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341483367&sr=8-1&keywords=inside+scientology
Read "The Jordan Rules" and see if you still feel that way.
It's what fueled him - making him think everyone was against him and he had something to prove. It worked clearly, but socially not so much. Check out the book The Jordan Rules.
Read any book about the NBA at that time ie the Jordan Rules, The Franchise by Stauth, etc.
I know many of you don't remember the 80s at all, or were probably not even born. But before Phil Jackson took over the Bulls, Jordan was widely regarded as an elite, flashy scorer in the late 80s, but a selfish ballhog that only cared about scoring, didn't give a damn about his teammates, and was out to pad his numbers.
The Jordan Rules
Jordan was absolutely not a leader. I stand by that. Pick up a copy and read The Jordan Rules or Blood On The Horns and I think you'll agree. Was he the Chicago Bulls best player? Absolutely. But this guy punched Steve Kerr in the face, never spoke a word to Dennis Rodman, punched Will Purdue in the face a couple of times, was a dick to and tried to sabotage the career of Bill Cartwright, conned Pippen out of some money, etc. If Jordan played under the watchful eye of today's media, featuring Twitter and Reddit, he would be known as a locker room cancer.
The "myth" is that it was Jordan that won those championships. He went 1-9 in playoff games without Scottie Pippen. To make matters more interesting, Pippen and the Bulls won 55 without Jordan and made the game 7 of the 1993 WCF. MJ played six seasons without winning a championship. Would he have been able to get a ring without his supporting cast and the systems of Phil Jackson? Sure. One? Maybe two? But it's a myth that those Bulls won six championships because of Jordan. One would be more justified suggesting Jordan won six rings because of those Bulls and Phil Jackson.
Edit: Just want to add that I feel like Phil Jackson's systems, and MJ buying into said systems, is what moved Jordan from best of his era, to arguably best of all time. My point with all of this wasn't to further expose MJ, it was to suggest that great players (such as WB) need to buy into quality systems to transcend into elite/generational talents.
I learned it from Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. McKinley, before he was shot, visited Honeymoon Bridge over the Niagara but made sure to only cross halfway so as to not go into canada.
The Curve of Binding Energy: A Journey into the Awesome and Alarming World of Theodore B. Taylor
by John McPHee
Assassination Vacation
by Sarah Vowell
Public Therapy Buses, Information Specialty Bums, Solar Cook-A-Mats and Other Visions of the 21st Century
by Steven M. Johnson
Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date
by Robert X. Cringley
Tog on Interface
by Bruce Tognazzini
I actually learned this today too, in a completely unrelated manner. I just started reading Assassination Vacation
I can't believe this isn't the top comment, but if you are interested in this and the other presidential assasinations then please read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
What happened on the Atlantis mission is fact, not conspiracy. NASA's failure to address the problem is on them. Do you comprehend that there was a burn through and melted metal on a strut? Do you understand how close they came to losing Atlantis? 700 tiles damaged. There should have been a "repair kit" before the next mission.
Ask Mike Mullane how serious the STS-27 issue was. He was on board. He mentions some in "Riding Rockets". He has also told me that he and the crew were "lucky". Not exactly PC astronaut speak.
http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Rockets-Outrageous-Shuttle-Astronaut/dp/0743276833
They did something about the foam after Columbia, right? It only took a tragedy to spur them into action. Just like the O-Ring issue. The foam should have been addressed when they almost lost Atlantis in 1988.
The remains of Challenger were stuffed in a silo. This is also fact. There was no extensive study of the debris. We learned very little about the breakup- how much knowledge could have been gained from the study of the orbiter? NASA wanted to be rid of the Challenger disaster as quickly as possible.
They learned their lesson about that when it came to Columbia. The investigation and it's results are completely public. The remains of Columbia are categorized and stored in the VAB, available for research and loan for scientific studies.
I'm sure none of this will convince you that I am not a demeaning and delusional person bent on destroying the credibility of NASA. But I'm not speaking to you Firehawk, this is for the objective readers. They will do their homework (outside of wikipedia) and hopefully find themselves more informed.
Take the time to visit KSC. Meet some astronauts and interact with them. Ask them hard questions, I think you'll find (especially from the retired ones) a level of discussion that will leave you very well informed.
There are a lot of miracles claimed in this book, and when I have time later I'll take a look and see if I can provide a good example. The book, by the way, is considered a "classic" in the spiritual world, and the author a supposedly authentic guru or spiritual master. So it should be a good source for something to discuss.
If you are looking for a book without the wandering, check out House to House.
Check out "House to House," I think you will really enjoy that book as well. It captures the essence of Iraq war and the Battle of Fallujah. This book made my heart race and palms sweat while I read it. Here is a link
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1416596607/ref=mw_dp_mdsc/188-8511672-5783613?dsc=1
Targets of opportunity (i.e. helicopters). The Warthog actually got a couple of kills during the Gulf War. I'd definitely suggest this book if you're interested in learning more.
I guess more than that. Sadly my kindle isn't charged at the moment, but If you're interested you might want to have a look at this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Warthog-Flying-Potomac-Books-Warriors/dp/1574888862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349002853&sr=8-1&keywords=warthog+flying+a10
They're flying the A-10A (which makes crossing the Atlantic even harder) but the first Chapter describes the ordeal pretty detailed. Including refueling during a Thunderstorm. At night. Under time pressure.
The Confessions of Congressman X
From the horse's mouth
Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman. Extremely well written and researched... and 100% creepy.
Lawrence Wright's "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief" is the most-recent must read book on this pernicious organization.
It's a good complement to Janet Reitman's "Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion" which was published just a couple of years ago.
Heres a book for you
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MYE7QP0/
Yes, it is happening
Here is a real military book:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Hearts-Platoons-Descent-Triangle/dp/0307450767/ref=asap_B001JSD6SK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417309637&sr=1-1
I liked Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 by Siegfried Knappe, and Red Road from Stalingrad by Mansur Abdulin.
Edit: Sorry, I gave you the Canadian Amazon links. I'm sure you can find them on the regular Amazon.
What you're talking about is a real system error. The solution you're suggesting however, goes against some deep player made code (which would require a very damaging reboot to change and that might just make it worse). Most people think that re-distributing gold will work if we get high-level (aka. "Gov.") players to do it. However, this is actually what those same high-level players want us to believe so that they still have the power to control the gold.
I could go into allot more detail, but I think this The_Real_Ron_Paul guy says it better. He wrote a player guide book that essentially explained why the two major factions in the server are both abusing or misunderstanding the original code and that either methodology just kind of fucks things up.
You really need to look past the fact that he associates with certain clans, factions, and admin followings because, if you listen to him, he's kind of above it.
What you have heard is a likely combination of misinformation, misunderstandings, and out of context information with a dash of truth thrown in for believability (plus some stuff that so weird you can't make it up). I suggest you start with one of these books (in order of objectivity):
> allows it's members to attack critics
The video you probably saw recently isn't attacking a "critic". While I don't believe he should be harassed at all, this is a guy who was a top executive that left, wrote some books that makes the rest of top management looks like total assholes, and basically wants to reform the whole movement from the outside. Normal critics, members, and ex-members don't get treated like this. No one is going to knock on your door for posting critical stuff on reddit, for example.
> No one person's religion is "the right way"
This is one of Scientology's core moral values - "Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others"
> the rich are going to get more rich in this religion
not really, not many people are making a lot of money from it even toward the top. It's mostly going into bank accounts, real estate, buildings, improvements of services, and other churchy things. The one guy at the very top lives a pretty CEO-like lifestyle but I doubt many others are getting rich other than the organization itself - and I'd argue that even it isn't super rich. Things like the setup ot Bridge Publications, the church's publishing arm, cost a huge amount of money.
> put those funds back into the fucking community, instead of wasting it on new churches, make new homes and schools for the poor
Then donate to organizations that build homes and schools instead of a church. The aims of a church are to further the spread the religion. Churches that build schools and houses are usually doing so with spreading their religion as their real agenda. There are plenty of secular non-profit organizations that build homes and schools for the poor as their primary concern that tend to be much better at it.
Its also worth pointing out that donations to the Church of Scientology are typically not outright donations. They are almost always for some service or material good, such as a book or lecture series on CD. There isn't really a concept of 'tithing' in Scientology and indeed the idea of getting something directly back when you give someone money is kind of part of the culture of the church.
For getting started on government crime I've got a great book you can read, it just came out.
She did cry though. What Happened -- $14.99 on Amazon.
Complainers don't make effective leaders, by the way. Extreme Ownership -- also $14.99 on Amazon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Delta_Force
http://www.amazon.com/Delta-Force-Militarys-Secretive-Special-Operations/dp/006224969X
Read this book