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Readers!

 

It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

You can’t understand one without understanding the other.

 

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Trump does a clean sweep of all politically appointed ambassadors

A very good sign: The Trump transition team has issued a blanket order requiring all politically appointed ambassadors “without exception” to resign their posts by inauguration day.

This order, which breaks with past precedent which allowed ambassadors to stick around until a new person was named, is actually a very good sign. It indicates that Trump really does intend to clean house. His track record in the private sector is to fire people if they are not producing. It appears he is going to bring that experience to the executive branch, an approach that the federal government has lacked for decades.

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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

6 comments

  • wayne

    Establishment GOP Seizes Most Important Job In Trump White House

    Who is John “Johnny” DeStephano, the new Director of White House Personnel?
    http://www.conservativehq.com/node/24852

    “DeStephano has no background in personnel or human resources. However, he is a longtime member of former Speaker of the House John Boehner’s inner circle and a former Republican National Congressional Committee staffer.”

  • LocalFluff

    @wayne, Maybe Trump needs someone to play “good cop” so that the personnel doesn’t feel as if their lives turned into an Apprentice show.

  • wayne

    “Road To Nowhere”
    -Talking Heads
    https://youtu.be/AWtCittJyr0
    (4:04)

  • Maurice

    I was starting to get worried, it was way too quiet.. but then this- awesome!

  • Edward

    It looks like Trump has done something, so now we can start to evaluate his actions over his words. It could be an interesting first 100 days.

  • Frank

    I see many of the signs of an accomplished businessman and leader at work.

    Define the goals and the vision to get there
    Surround yourself with capable people who have accomplished great things outside of government
    Make your important enemies your friends, let the rest wonder what happened
    Stay on offense
    Communicate well

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