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About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island and dreaming about moving somewhere new. I spent some of my free time at work posting on rec.skydiving - a Usenet group that catered to skydivers. It was a different time back then. To be able to get to Usenet at all means you needed a modem and a computer, both pricey purchases, and you needed to be able to get them to work together, which meant you needed some tech experience. As a result, not many people were on Usenet - just me and a few other tech nerds. And there was hardly any spam! Slowly over the years more people figured it out and started joining. I remember TooyT, Barry Brumitt (wrote the first skydiving FAQ!) Lance Kirwin, Kevin O'Connell, Dave Appel and Jerry Sobieski. I also met Amy on there, which changed the course of my life in a big way. I moved to California in '94 both to escape a bad relationship and to skydive. And of course because I found a great company - Qualcomm - in San Diego. By that point Usenet was becoming a cesspool of Viagra ads and foreign bride offers, and filters had not gotten good enough yet to remove all that, so browsing it was painful. So when Willem announced he was starting DZ.com I felt a big sense of relief. He got in touch with me to see if I wanted to moderate S+T and Incidents, which I said yes to. We started with a complement of about a dozen moderators, some of which I got to know really well. I spent a day in San Diego with Andrea watching whales swim by the gliderport, and I spent a few days with Chuck and Katie at Raeford jumping. Derek once built me a tersh just because I was talking about how I needed one (thanks again Derek) and Remi, Karen and I would meet up whenever we were out at Eloy. Seven of us once got together at Eloy and did the now-infamous moderator jump, angled carefully so no one could see Willem's face on camera. I think Eric and Scott were on that one as well. I also met a bunch of other people from DZ.com in real life - Lisa, Keely, Gary, Winsor - and saw them at Perris and at boogies all the time. It grew my circle of friends from Socal jumpers to jumpers all over the US. And even the world; I met some people from the Irish Parachute Club and made a trip out there to jump with them. I recall a lot of drinking. Over time as moderators changed I took on moderation of a few more forums, but to me the S+T and Incidents forum were always the important ones. I got some sort of award - a "skydivers hall of fame" or something from Parachutist for running that, and got on a few podcasts talking about safety and incidents. One of my proudest moments during that time was reading an incident by a newer jumper flying a too-small canopy. He had read one of my many diatribes on "LEARN FLAT TURNS!" and had tried them once or twice. Then one day he found himself flying downwind by accident, and he tried to turn into the wind at 50 feet. He tried that flat turn he had heard about, but there was something off about it (he explained) because he landed hard, tore his jumpsuit and sprained his ankle. The fact that he was complaining about a sprained ankle after a turn at 50 feet under a heavily loaded canopy made me think that maybe this forum was actually doing some good. I learned a lot, too, mainly from the forums I wasn't moderating - forums like General and Gear and Rigging. Based on what I learned about wingsuiting here, for example, I bought a small wingsuit, taught myself how to fly it, started moving up in wingsuit sizes - then met Jari and became one of the first Birdman wingsuit instructors in the US. And over the years we lost people here too, of course. In some ways this place served as a memorial; you could go back and read what Shannon or Taz had posted while they were still alive, and remember them that way. Over the years traffic has started to fall off as people find more social-media options for skydiving, which is a natural evolution. I'm sorry that it will be disappearing sooner rather than later, but nothing lasts forever. It will be interesting to see what happens to the database; all these incident reports and threads on canopy flight have a lot of value (IMO) and I hope we can save some of it. Thanks to everyone who participated on this site over the decades it has been running, and thanks especially to all the moderators who I've worked with - Wendy, Lisa, Andrea, Chuck, Eric, Remi, Meso and all the others. And of course thanks to Willem for doing all the work to set up and maintain this site. See you out there.

Heya all, Dropzone .com has been sold. This site has been part of my life for 27 years, so it was obviously not an easy decision. A huge thank you to every one of you (especially those relentless mods!) who supported Dropzone.com and myself during the years. Things change. The friendships I made here will outlast the tech forever, and for that i'm grateful. It's been real. Safe swoops Sangiro

As I have contemplated the end of this forum it seems like facing the prospect of losing a large partly dysfunctional family all in one fell swoop. Of course it has been slowly dying anyway but some of the participants that are still here are outstanding in many so ways. At this time however I would like to thank the mods for their decision to let pretty much anything go in the dying days. The resultant decline in the quality of the discourse by allowing people of such low ability to think rationally is making it a lot easier for me to prepare myself for the loss. Seriously, it was the right thing to do for other reasons as well. I certainly will miss the chance to interact with some great people in a way that I will probably never be able to replace but at least I will also never have to deal with the crazy nonsense that comes across my screen.

BOROWITZ: Stormy Daniels not surprised Trump’s defense was small and didn’t last long

https://skydivingmagazine.org/browse-issues/ I started skydiving around 1987 and reading theses old magazines have given me such great pleasure and sadness. There is so much that I missed before I started skydiving and since then, so many great people are no longer with us. On the plus side, I really enjoy the history and the great memories of all that has happened. I knew Mike, but not very well and now can really appreciate the writing and history. Thank you Sue for making them available.

Hi, Jerry, If he weren't a strong contender for the office of POTUS, I would be laughing. Unfortunately, the situation doesn't make it funny right now. Maybe when he loses the election and continues to "lose it," we can laugh at him.

Ditto Joe, I spent 20 years of my life throwing my ass into the fire. Here we are in Act III of our lives and I feel frustrated like those 20 were wasted. This is not where or how we should be.

Hard to believe I’ve been coming here to Speaker’s Corner for 20 years for my daily dose of enlightenment and aggravation. It’s really been the best place to hear a diversity of opinions from real people, a diversity I can’t encounter at work or the drop zone where it would be inappropriate to talk about so many of the topics we can kick around here. I’ve learned something from all of you, and I’ll really miss getting perspective from you even if sometimes it makes me gnash my teeth. So I’d like to wish all of you fair winds and following seas. Don

Brother, that's quite a leap. "Sick fuck pedo's" will pose as anything to gain access. Nor, are they just male. I don't understand the trans/cross dressing thing, but I also know my framework lies in the constituion - the right to pursue happiness. If they wanna do it and it's not hurting anyone - how is that my business.

Hey everyone, Dropzone.com has been acquired by a non-skydiving party. The site will remain active and available in its current format until the end of the year. Please back up your DMs and data before December 31, 2024. Some of you have been asking about the data: As part of the deal, I will retain all the data and content. We'll explore options to see whether it's viable to make it available in some format again. That being said, there may very well be a period where nothing is available. Ultimately we may not find a solution to put it online again without just returning to the same cost and support issues that brought us to this point int the first place. That's quite likely. If we bring any of the data online again, you should expect it to be different... Go follow Dropzone.com on Facebook, instagram or X. (links in the site footer) If there are any developments or updates, we will use those platforms to announce it. Safe swoops Sangiro

The funny thing is that at exactly the same time Brent is arguing that Fascism is Socialism, Winsor is arguing you should vote Fascist to prevent Socialism, and they will both back each other up without a hint of irony.

That kind of describes Hillary Clinton. If she were a man, she'd be considered a hardass who can get things done. Since she's a woman and a liberal (sort of), she's the bitch-devil incarnate. Wendy P.

Excellent paper. Thank you. WHO now estimates the death count was under-reported and was closer to 3 million. I still think the lockdowns were a good idea given that we didn't know what we were dealing with and really had no plan, so decisons at that instance in time had to be made. In the military, there is a "Stand-Down." Everybody stop what you're doing, assess what's going on, and present ideas - basically, hit the stop button. Then, reboot. Politicizing it - no bueno.

In 1888, two friends started the Pearl Milling Company, a flour mill in Missouri. They soon faced a flour glut and started selling extra flour as a "self-rising pancake mix" sold in big paper sacks. In 1889, they added the Aunt Jemima trade name to conflate their product with the "Southern Mammy" stereotype; a vaudeville carciature of an obese Southern slave woman who was happy to be a slave. (The original image for Aunt Jemima actually came from a Vaudeville poster.) She was referred to as "Aunt" since honorifics like "Miss" were prohibited for slaves - and later freed slaves. People were, by comtemporary accounts, amused by the name. At the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago they hired a former slave, Nancy Green, to play Aunt Jemima at their booth. She didn't look much like the picture on the product, although they were both black women. After time went by the image of Aunt Jemima changed. One change recast the image based on an obese black actress named Anna Robinson. The next change was based VERY loosely on cook Rosa Washington Riles. In 1968 a spin made her into a composite of several women. She was made thinner and more stylish, less cartoonish. In 1989 it was revamped again, with the scarf removed completely and a plain white collar with lace. Again this was not based on any specific woman. In 2020 Quaker Oats (the new owners) decided to change the branding away from the Vaudeville woman to a simpler Pearl Milling Company logo. When Pepsico bought THEM out, they continued with the change, for several reasons: 1) They thought that sales would increase, which as always was the primary consideration. 2) They wanted to avoid the "happy slave" stereotype which was becoming more problematic. 3) Conservatives were beginning to use "Aunt Jemima" as a racial epithet. Conservative talk show host John Sylvester had started calling Condoleeza Rice "Aunt Jemima" and Colin Powell "Uncle Ben" - and they didn't want to sell a breakfast product synonymous with a racial slur. (Later republican mayor Barry Presgraves would call Kamala Harris "Aunt Jemima" during the 2024 presidential campaign.) This caused an almost unbelievable amount of outrage among conservatives. Liberals were "cancelling history" and the government was "woke" - and were destroying a beloved icon. Several memes cast this as a government decision - "I can't believe that changing a pancake box didn't end COVID for Biden!" - and other such memes that conflated it with government action. What was odd about this is that it was a decision purely based on corporate bean counters and lawyers, who felt they would just plain make more money (and lose less to lawsuits) with the rebrand. I noticed this recently when the US government actually DID start deleting historical records of black people. As a single example, Charles C. Rogers was a highly decorated Army officer and the highest ranking black soldier to receive the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam war. During an attack by the North Vietnamese, Rogers was wounded three times but continued directing artillery fire and leading counterattacks until the enemy was repelled. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1970 for his extraordinary bravery. The DoD set up a web page to honor this man and his accomplishments. It was deleted about two weeks ago in the "DEI purge" under the current administration. On Facebook, I noted several conservatives defending this, opining that he probably only got the MoH to begin with because he was black, and how glad they were that the real heroes would now be honored. It is both remarkable and sad that conservatives will vociferously defend depictions of fictional black people that show them as willing servants, but condemn any depictions of actual black people as heroes. It exemplifies how conservatives want minorities to be seen (and used) in the US.

Nigel shot me an email letting me know where it moved. Happy to be back!!

Doesn't it bother you that a legal US resident can be arrested and possibly deported just for expressing opinions that Trump doesn't like? To the best of my knowledge he hasn't been convicted of, or even charged with, a crime. Once you start restricting the scope of the 1st Amendment, where do you stop?

A good man. Maybe not the greatest president, but a good man who lived a good life.

About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island and dreaming about moving somewhere new. I spent some of my free time at work posting on rec.skydiving - a Usenet group that catered to skydivers. It was a different time back then. To be able to get to Usenet at all means you needed a modem and a computer, both pricey purchases, and you needed to be able to get them to work together, which meant you needed some tech experience. As a result, not many people were on Usenet - just me and a few other tech nerds. And there was hardly any spam! Slowly over the years more people figured it out and started joining. I remember TooyT, Barry Brumitt (wrote the first skydiving FAQ!) Lance Kirwin, Kevin O'Connell, Dave Appel and Jerry Sobieski. I also met Amy on there, which changed the course of my life in a big way. I moved to California in '94 both to escape a bad relationship and to skydive. And of course because I found a great company - Qualcomm - in San Diego. By that point Usenet was becoming a cesspool of Viagra ads and foreign bride offers, and filters had not gotten good enough yet to remove all that, so browsing it was painful. So when Willem announced he was starting DZ.com I felt a big sense of relief. He got in touch with me to see if I wanted to moderate S+T and Incidents, which I said yes to. We started with a complement of about a dozen moderators, some of which I got to know really well. I spent a day in San Diego with Andrea watching whales swim by the gliderport, and I spent a few days with Chuck and Katie at Raeford jumping. Derek once built me a tersh just because I was talking about how I needed one (thanks again Derek) and Remi, Karen and I would meet up whenever we were out at Eloy. Seven of us once got together at Eloy and did the now-infamous moderator jump, angled carefully so no one could see Willem's face on camera. I think Eric and Scott were on that one as well. I also met a bunch of other people from DZ.com in real life - Lisa, Keely, Gary, Winsor - and saw them at Perris and at boogies all the time. It grew my circle of friends from Socal jumpers to jumpers all over the US. And even the world; I met some people from the Irish Parachute Club and made a trip out there to jump with them. I recall a lot of drinking. Over time as moderators changed I took on moderation of a few more forums, but to me the S+T and Incidents forum were always the important ones. I got some sort of award - a "skydivers hall of fame" or something from Parachutist for running that, and got on a few podcasts talking about safety and incidents. One of my proudest moments during that time was reading an incident by a newer jumper flying a too-small canopy. He had read one of my many diatribes on "LEARN FLAT TURNS!" and had tried them once or twice. Then one day he found himself flying downwind by accident, and he tried to turn into the wind at 50 feet. He tried that flat turn he had heard about, but there was something off about it (he explained) because he landed hard, tore his jumpsuit and sprained his ankle. The fact that he was complaining about a sprained ankle after a turn at 50 feet under a heavily loaded canopy made me think that maybe this forum was actually doing some good. I learned a lot, too, mainly from the forums I wasn't moderating - forums like General and Gear and Rigging. Based on what I learned about wingsuiting here, for example, I bought a small wingsuit, taught myself how to fly it, started moving up in wingsuit sizes - then met Jari and became one of the first Birdman wingsuit instructors in the US. And over the years we lost people here too, of course. In some ways this place served as a memorial; you could go back and read what Shannon or Taz had posted while they were still alive, and remember them that way. Over the years traffic has started to fall off as people find more social-media options for skydiving, which is a natural evolution. I'm sorry that it will be disappearing sooner rather than later, but nothing lasts forever. It will be interesting to see what happens to the database; all these incident reports and threads on canopy flight have a lot of value (IMO) and I hope we can save some of it. Thanks to everyone who participated on this site over the decades it has been running, and thanks especially to all the moderators who I've worked with - Wendy, Lisa, Andrea, Chuck, Eric, Remi, Meso and all the others. And of course thanks to Willem for doing all the work to set up and maintain this site. See you out there.

This site is apparently going tit's up. As the gal who had the biggest thread ( except db) I want to say thank you to all of you for the discourse over the years. It's been fun!

That's what I was talking about. They were not worse, and your example is a great one. Gary Hart had an alleged affair. It was never proven, but there were press reports about it. His campaign also owed about $4 million. Based on those two issues, as publicized by the press, his campaign was sunk; most people did not want to vote for someone like that. Trump had three well documented affairs. One was proven in court. The other two resulting in his marrying the woman he was having an affair with. He has cheated on all three wives - again, very publicly. Trump is an adjudicated rapist, and has stated he enjoys sexual assault. 26 other women state they have been sexually assaulted by him. Trump is a 34 times convicted felon, convicted of crimes of election interference. Trump owes billions to people ranging from banks to contractors to individuals that he has never paid back. He forfeited on a $280 million loan - then sued the people who gave him the loan, stating they made a mistake in loaning it to him. And not only did all that not sink his campaign, it increased his popularity. It has often been said that it's inconceivable how people could support Hitler, or Mussolini, or Lenin, or Stalin. How could that happen? Now we know.

This coming from the people who think vaccines don't work, that climate change is a Chinese hoax, that windmill cancer is a thing, that women can "shut down" a pregnancy if they are raped, and that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Springfield. I prefer actual reality, even if alternative facts conform more closely to conservative agendas.

Yep. I saw that this morning. It was fun while it lasted, and I really wish it were as vibrant as it once was. To me it was a much more democratic (in the sense of participation) format than FB, Reddit, or whatever else is out there. There’s an awful lot of good information here Wendy P.

People who state Harris can’t articulate anything seem to have prejudice/misogyny, comprehension problems or the inability to speak English. As for Joe 2.0, he’s done a pretty good job, peacefully handed over the reigns to a younger candidate. I’d say he’s a pretty good act to follow.

Really? Biden created more jobs than Trump Biden created more manufacturing jobs than Trump Biden drilled more oil than Trump Biden had better stock market performance than Trump Biden added less debt than Trump The economy does better under Democrats and Democrats generally add less to the debt than Republicans. But sure, you don't go by feels, you go by facts.

(not just to you, Phil, but yours was the easiest post to reply to) Funny, I just saw his PAO from his Iraq deployment on CNN, talking to Brianna Keiler, the other day. Shawn Haney and I go way back to OCS, then were both Marine PAOs (the officers in charge of combat correspondents). She's a good egg, and a way better PAO than I ever cared to be. I agree with what she said -- combat correspondents are called that because they have to go out to the areas to get the information to write in their reports. Additionally, enlisted CCs were nearly as likely to accompany embedded media as the officers were, and were always packing. Another colleague of ours died on one such escort when she stepped on a hidden IED; definitely not a safe job. Not to mention, especially in Iraq, there really wasn't any "rear area." Yeah, definitely safer than others, but not a safe job. I'm not saying JD Vance is a standup guy -- I despise everything that guy says and stands for, especially his accusations toward Tim Walz's service. But I had to give the Marine PAO perspective on combat correspondents and at least defend his service. Yeah, it was easier than that of many other Marines, but he did his four years honorably, just as Tim Walz did his 24 years, just as I did my combined 32 years.

Yep. Or put another way - If you think giving rights to other people will erode yours, it's not equal rights that you want - it's privilege.

Went to a talk last night with George Takei and John Cho (both Sulus from the Star Trek films) at UCSD. George was very eloquent. They both talked about the role a bit. Then the moderator asked them about their childhoods, and George talked about growing up in an internment camp. Then they went over to John who didn't say anything for a second. "I have no idea how I follow _that_" he finally said. George Takei was taken from his home in LA to a Japanese internment camp when he was 5, because he was Japanese and the Japanese had just attacked Pearl Harbor. All his family's money was taken. Their house was sold. All their possessions were taken. They were stripped naked. They were first imprisoned in a horse stall; their family of four was in one stall. They all got sick from sleeping on dung, but fortunately survived. They were then moved from camp to camp over the next five years, ending up in a mosquito infested camp on a bayou in Arkansas. And every morning they'd line everyone up in the mud and forced them to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And every time he got to the "with liberty and justice for all" part he'd look around the prison camp they were in and think that perhaps that America was fibbing about that part. He also talked about growing up as a gay man, and how he had to hide who he was for decades from a Hollywood that would have fired him instantly if they had known. Finally he was able to come out in 2005 and admit to the relationship he'd had for the past 20 years. In 2008 they were married, and when they re-outlawed gay marriage in California later in 2008, they were both amused, thinking about what a fun court case it would be if republicans tried to forcibly divorce them. Then Prop 8 was overturned and it was a moot point. His unique perspective - a man who has had his rights taken away TWICE by America - has led him to be very politically active. When the US government finally paid him reparations for throwing him in jail for four years he donated it all to an Asian civil rights group. He's also very aware how tenuous people's rights are and how easily they can be taken away. He talked about FDR, a guy he otherwise respected, giving in to fear and starting up the internment camp program. And he cautioned that if you start with a guy that does NOT have the sort of morals that FDR had, then the damage he can do to civil rights will be that much greater. His words - “I consider it my responsibility as an American citizen to actively participate, particularly because I know my childhood imprisonment - the unjust imprisonment. If we don't participate, if we don't educate our fellow Americans to the vulnerability of our democracy, how fragile it can be, then we're not being responsible citizens.” Sometimes we forget how fragile our rights are.

I can't. Biden is boring and old, but has done well so far. He will get more boring and more old, and likely not survive his next term, or will be 25th'ed out. In which case the presidency will be in disarray and nothing much will get done. Which is not the worst outcome. Trump is an active danger to America. He has long campaigned on retribution and vengeance, and has stated he will be a "dictator" for a short time, and that he wants to "terminate" the "phony" Constitution. That's an active threat to America. One could claim "well, he won't be able to do that" - but ten years ago I am sure no one would have thought he could mount an insurrection, get abortion de-legalized or put Putin on a pedestal, either. If he accomplishes even 25% of what he sets out to do, he will have damaged the US significantly. Also, he is just plain evil. You can explain away greedy business decisions ("it's for the stockholders!") having a drug addict son, treating your kids poorly ("they're just not good kids") even working to take rights away from women ("the states should decide.") But you cannot pursue a stranger into a changing room and rape them without being inherently evil. And I don't want the US led by an evil man. The choice, for me, is very clear. The US is too important to me to ignore the threat.

As per SOP, you're coming here and telling a group largely made up of moderates what moderates believe, based on what you've been spoon-fed by your right-wind media diet. Does it take a lot of effort to remain so willfully ignorant that you post this in a thread where several people, including me, have detailed their support for Biden? There's zero doubt that he's increasingly looking like a horrible campaigner right now, but that doesn't negate what he has, and could continue to do as President.

I read that she won her primary. Georgia Trumpsters are probably gnashing their teeth....Oops!....tooth.

I agree with you pretty much 100%. Unfortunately, people like us, who vote on what someone knows and can learn, don't appear to be in the majority now. I'm really concerned about my country right now. I've lived in what it looks like it's becoming, and it's generally a great place to be privileged, or subservient. But not for the kind of people who actually settled this country. Wendy P.

Hi folks, Now that we know Trump is going to try to run for a 3rd term, my daughter thinks we should just run Obama against him. Sounds good to me, Jerry Baumchen

Bigun is significantly to the right of me (but, I suspect, getting less so). However, he is not a knee-jerk MAGA warrior like some who post here, and his positions are always well thought out even if I disagree with them.

For example, the color line that is terminating every female or non-white person from senior levels of command in the US military, and replacing them with white males. MAGA begs the question: when you say "make America great again", when exactly do you want to return to? When was America "great"? What year do you have in mind? 1950? 1925? 1850? It certainly seems that for a large number of MAGA devotees that was a time when women and minorities knew their place, which was far from any position of leadership. When even being able to vote was a bridge too far. When medicine consisted of leeching and cod liver oil, not vaccines or any science-based elitist crap. Maybe back when real leaders like Andrew Jackson (who Trump so admires) were willing to force the Cherokee off their land, to die on the Trail of Tears on their way to some God-forsaken patch of semi-desert in Oklahoma. Except of course when that land turned out to have a lot of oil, that had to get taken from them too. When, exactly, was America "great" in the eyes of MAGA? What is the destination? Because as you go back, and you don't have to go back far, it might look better for white males but it sucked for everyone else. That's what all this anti-DEI bullshit is about, a desire to return to the past when all those "other people" knew their proper place.

Apparently, Meso is runnning it, based on his post in reddit, "I used to run the site for a decade" [paraphrase]. and announcing the new domain name. Sometimes, it's an IT/IP timing issue. He couldn't do anything until everything was finalized. My suspicion is, he put it back mostly as a legacy informational site and for that - my thanks.

Actually there are people who have different views to the majority and are not trolls. They are sincere in their beliefs and disagree strongly while still being able to hold a rational conversation and make a point (people like Bigun etc). The childish trolling adds no value and is frankly not entertaining after you’ve left kindergarten.

As someone hit from behind and knocked into line twists with collapsed end cells at 100' agl by a guy spiraling through the pattern at Z Hills (to get on the next load), and then managing to land without breaking anything, I was charmed when TK presented me with a Z-Hills carabiner watch as a thank you for not contributing to the DZ's accident data. The photo taken from the ground even made it into USPA's Safety Day ad the following year.

Hey everyone, I wanted to give you a heads-up that I'll be putting Dropzone.com on the market. It has been a great 27 years, but for the last few years this has simply not been my focus, and the site is showing that neglect. It's time for someone else to pick up the ball and run with it, or take the domain in whatever direction they decide. There are still costs associated every month with keeping Dropzone.com up, that has become hard to justify. If you have PMs that you'd like to keep, now would be a good time to copy those as there is no telling what the next owner might do to keeping it up or not. If you're interested in buying the site or domain (serious buyers only) feel to get in touch PMs.

In 1939 it was illegal for black men to serve as pilots in the US military. Due to a DEI offensive from the NAACP, labor union leader A. Philip Randolph and Judge William H. Hastie, a war appropriations bill was passed containing funding to train black pilots. This effectively legitimized the use of black pilots by the US military. It was not without friction; a great many opposed it. Major General Frank O'Driscoll Hunter, for example, insisted that "racial friction will occur if colored and white pilots are trained together." But they persevered, and by the end of the war, this DEI squadron (also known as the Tuskeegee Airmen) flew almost 200 bomber protection missions, with a record of protecting bombers almost twice as well as the all-white squadrons flying at that time. Overall the squadron received one silver star, 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses,14 Bronze Stars, 744 Air Medals and at least 60 Purple Hearts. Proof of their unity, excellence and honor by any measure. Martha McSally was one of the first women to fly for the USAF in combat. She was able to do that as the result of a DEI effort to lift the prohibition against women in combat in 1991. She ended up as a decorated squadron leader before retiring and becoming a US representative, where she served for two years in Congress. She was part of several DEI lawsuits, including one against the DoD to end the requirement that women in the US military wear burqas when in public in Arab countries. She was also raped by a superior officer, but managed to overcome that and still become squadron leader during her time in the service. Leigh Ann Hester was a seargeant in the 617th Military Police Company. In 2005 the supply convoy she was guarding came under attack by at least 50 insurgents. She led her team to flank the attackers, and used grenades to end the threat. At the end, there were 27 dead and 6 insurgents, with no losses of the US supply team. She ended up with the Distinguished Service Cross. Again an indication of unity, excellence and honor. So I'd say that DEI has in fact done a lot for combat. It is why black people and women can now serve in the military. It has taken hard work, and overcoming the objections of people like General Hunter above, but we are all better off because of it.

It’s really quite simple: you start with the conclusion, for example “Trump good, Libs bad”, and you just work backwards from there to try and twist the facts into that form…Pro Tip: this is easier if you do it with a complete disregard for facts and/or previous statements that you yourself have asserted as facts. It truly is a flawless strategy.

Almost anyone would be preferable to a crooked lying rapist self-aggrandizing narcissistic felon.

you keep using the word 'disastrous' without providing anything to support such strong language. fer fuck's sake, GWB took us into two wars based on fucking lies, killed a million civilians and thousands of americans in those wars, which went on for 20+ years and cost us well over $10T. you survived that and you and the country are still here, functioning. I am pretty sure that your morning this morning was the same pretty much as every morning you have had in the past 3 decades. cry wolf..... if our choices today are 'disastrous', then I expect and ask for some examples that are at least on par with the war crimes of GWB.....

I have good news for you!

Sorry, it’s OK to question your instructors, because that’s better than going ahead and doing something stupid because you thought you knew better. Instructors generally have the right answer for that student, but some students don’t feel comfortable asking questions. Yeah, he might be heading for a fall, but this time he got solid advice Wendy P.

Yes of course. You are just the guy who reposts the offensive meme and then says it has nothing to do with you, you are just passing on the message. Well.....let me tell you, that shit fools no one.

I sincerely wish America was as concerned about school shootings as they are ear shootings.

Have you ever been a woman in a workplace where the management is all male, and handsy? Have you ever heard "the law says I have to interview them, but it sure don't say I have to hire them." Have you ever heard "you can come in, gorgeous, but your husband can't." Have you ever heard, yet again, "you must be on the rag." Or maybe "you can't be so blunt," when you're not as blunt as some of the men in the group. Being on the delivering side of all those is privilege, because no one else in management (or the power structure) can be told any of those things, because of who they are. Wendy P.

Yeah. Jakee of course I am. See, this is why I block you at times - not contributing solutions, looking for bits and pieces of what people post just to keep it going in an ongoing circular loop. Setting up for the spike. Just add to the conversation, man.

The Scotts have realized Trump can no longer enter Scotland.

Speaker Johnson giving a press conference outside of Trumps trial today. America the land with a judiciary separate from politics is a thing of the past. Never mind the Supreme courts political actions of late. From Fox News “It’s a remarkable, if not unprecedented, moment in modern American politics to have the powerful House speaker, a constitutional officer, turn his political party against the U.S. system and rule of law by declaring a trial illegitimate” I’m not sure the US will ever regain its moral high ground after the Trump era ends. I don’t know if Trump broke the system, or simply exposed a broken system. Regardless, he appears to have done a great job of it. I never thought a first world country would have a diaper wearing lunatic as a serious contender for President.