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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

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You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

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The American Revolution began today at Concord and Lexington.

The shot heard around the world: The American Revolution began today at Concord and Lexington in 1775.

At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the “shot heard around the world” was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun.

The history is very well known to anyone who has done the slightest reading about American history. Nonetheless, considering the events in Nevada this past week this paragraph struck me as especially profound:

When the British troops reached Concord at about 7 a.m., they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They managed to destroy the military supplies the Americans had collected but were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Frances Smith, the overall commander of the British force, ordered his men to return to Boston without directly engaging the Americans. As the British retraced their 16-mile journey, their lines were constantly beset by Patriot marksmen firing at them Indian-style from behind trees, rocks, and stone walls. At Lexington, Captain Parker’s militia had its revenge, killing several British soldiers as the Red Coats hastily marched through his town. By the time the British finally reached the safety of Boston, nearly 300 British soldiers had been killed, wounded, or were missing in action. The Patriots suffered fewer than 100 casualties.

At some point, when our federal government becomes as oppressive and as arrogant as the British government was in the 1770s, emotions will spill over and we will see the same thing happen again. And events will be similar, because Americans are armed and are becoming increasingly armed. They will defend their freedoms, their property, and their families, should the government in Washington continue attacking them. This is what happened in Nevada this past week. I expect it to happen more in the coming years.

I do not write this with joy. It would be much better if cooler heads prevailed and our government returned to serving the people instead of putting its boot on their head. I just don’t expect that to happen.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

8 comments

  • t-dub

    The entrenched oligarchy will never let the government serve the people ever again, if they can help it.

  • LTCStein

    Bob, I fear you are right. We are on that path. It is not too late to get off it (ie VOTE), but we’re on the way and it won’t be pretty if we get there.

  • Voting is not enough. It matters who people vote for. I know this sounds partisan but it really is not: The Democratic Party has to lose big in the coming elections. They have become corrupt, power-hungry, and very arrogant. Unless the voters, all voters, reject this behavior soundly at the polls, nothing will change and we will continue down the path towards tyranny and violent revolt.

    The Republicans are just as untrustworthy, but they have had their purges to keep them honest (1974, 2008). The Democrats have not. 1994 was only a mild rejection, leaving many of the worst Democrats still in power. It is time they all felt the wrath of the voters, even in their strongholds.

    Sadly, I don’t think that’s going to happen, though I would thrilled to be wrong.

  • Mr. Spock said (paraphrasing):”It is interesting how Humans get what they do not desire”.

    No one wants violence, but we are well on the path to it. I can easily imagine scenarios where otherwise law-abiding citizens feel the need to take up arms against government agents. The fact that we are even discussing the possibility is frightening. I would hope that non-violent resistance would be tried first (i.e. not signing up for Obamacare). This is the path I am taking, but if more direct means are necessary, then so be it,.

  • Al

    Here’s a video that shows how corrupt our current government is. I don’t think the people involved in the American Revolution would be pleased with what our country has become.

    http://www.wkyc.com/video/1490442309001/1/The-Great-Gibson-Guitar-Raid-Still-No-Charges-Filed

  • Orion3141

    The question is , to paraphrase Tom Wolfe , do Americans still have “The Right Stuff” ?
    Sadly, it will take a great deal more suffering and hardship to find out. The government’s iron fist has come out of the velvet glove, and they openly defy the law , starting from the vacationer-in-chief on down…When that happens, we are no longer a nation of laws, but rather a nation ran by thugs and corporate gangsters,. Like Bob, I truly hope I am proven wrong…Happy Easter to all that read this…

  • Richard

    Why can’t we send these Nixon loving Left-o-nuts back across the Rhine river where they came from?

  • Chris L

    It’s all a matter of waiting for the tipping point. The British were able to keep things running until they passed the Intolerable Acts. After that, the Massachusetts colony became ungovernable (for Crown officials) beyond the (occupied) city of Boston. General Gage was given an impossible job and managed to fail to do it just perfectly.

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