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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:

 

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Threatened with a lawsuit, Colorado lifts its ban of clothing with political messages

Jeffrey Hunt in his evil sweatshirt
Jeffrey Hunt in his evil sweatshirt.
Photo courtesy of JeffreyGrounds Photography.

Pushback: Colorado has now been forced to lift its ban on visitors wearing clothing with political messages when they enter the gallery of the state legislature after it was threatened with a lawsuit for enforcing that ban arbitrarily and clearly favoring some political messages over others.

On March 31, 2023, Jeffrey Hunt came to that visiter gallery wearing a pro-life sweatshirt and was forced to leave by security, as described by the cease-and-desist letter sent to by Hunt’s lawyers.

Sergeant-At-Arms Ben Trujillo approached Hunt and instructed him to exit the gallery. Hunt complied. After leaving the gallery, Trujillo told Hunt that “Pro-Life U” was a “political statement” prohibited by a rule banning “pins or apparel expressing political statements”.

Yet, security had no problem with an entire group of demonstrators filling the gallery wear gun control shirts only two weeks earlier.

That letter, sent by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) on July 16, 2024, noted this unfair application of the rule. More importantly, it pointed out that the rule was a clear violation of the First Amendment. It demanded that the state cease enforcing this illegal law, or face a lawsuit.

Less than a month later, the state backed down, ending the rule.

Across the nation there have been numerous similar stories of security guard control freaks illegally censoring conservative speech. And in every case, when faced with legal action those venues have backed down every single time, proving the importance of fighting. See for example this story at the Smithsonian, or this story at the National Archives.

The news in space and science is very very slow today, so this short political news piece gets posted first, sent to me over the weekend by radio host Robert Pratt.

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

2 comments

  • Cotour

    Related:

    DESTROY THE PARIARCHY: HARLEY DAVIDSON

    “You attempt to force a redefinition of capitalism, excellence and meritocracy and by doing so you kill capitalism along with the “Patriarchy”. Globalism I.E authoritarian European Socialism is alive and well and it is coming to you whether you want it or not.

    Or do you as an American still have a say about it? Stand by.”

    https://www.sigma3ioc.com/post/destroy-the-patriarchy-harley-davidson

  • BLSinSC

    Isn’t it AMAZING how the rules seem to be applied to CONSERVATIVES and only get removed when a THREAT TO SUE is made due to UNEQUAL TREATMENT?? Odd that you never had a DEMOcrat/LIBER suing because of something like this!

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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