Scroll down to read this post.

 

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:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:

 

4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.


Pushback: Five bowling alleys sue Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer

Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat and would-be dictator
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat and would-be dictator

Bring a gun to a knife fight: A coalition of five Michigan bowling alleys has sued Democratic Party Governor Gretchen Whitmer as well as the state’s Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon for shutting down their businesses for more than a year during the Wuhan panic without providing them any just compensation.

You can read the complaint here [pdf].

Plaintiff’s chief counsel David Kallman told The Epoch Times after the appeals court hearing…
“Michigan is the only state in the nation where a governor’s public health emergency powers were overturned as unconstitutional. If we lose in the court of appeals, we will take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Scott Bennett, executive director of the Independent Bowling and Entertainment Centers Association, told The Epoch Times: “The governor’s actions were devastating to our industry. Things went from ‘two weeks to slow the spread’ to indefinite shutdowns.”

Bennett said the forced closures weren’t based on solid scientific proof that bowling alleys and family entertainment centers would spread the virus any more than the Walmart stores or the GM plants that were allowed to remain open. “They were allowed to operate with hundreds and even thousands of people in them, but we had to shut down. We feel our industry was unfairly singled out.

“We cannot stand for a repeat of such arbitrary treatment and don’t want the people of Michigan to forget what was done to them.” [emphasis mine]

Note the highlighted sentences: Not only were Whitmer’s emergency powers illegal, they were irrationally arbitrary with no basis in science. The result has been the utter destruction of thousands of businesses in Michigan, for no good reason. This quote from one of the bowling alley owners says it all:

“It ripped my heart out. I am so bitter towards my government,” said owner Pete Tomassoni.

Tomassoni’s business suffered further because of its proximity to Wisconsin, which is only minutes away. “Wisconsin closed for just 30 days. For the most part, they were wide open. That really hurt us,” he said.

“Our governor was picking and choosing which of our state’s businesses could operate. To force a business to close with no notice and without proven science is straight out wrong. I think that she came down so hard on small business because we, by and large, lean to the right.

The case has been working its way through the courts since early 2021. Whether these private citizens can win however is unknown. In the first round in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan they lost, the court ruling against them. They are now arguing their appeal in the 6th Circuit of Court of Appeals.

That they lost at all tells you how far America now sits from the country as founded. The fifth amendment in the Bill of Rights expressly states that citizens shall not “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Whitmer and Gordon did exactly that, making unilateral degrees based on no law without any due process or compensation to the owners. Yet the first court ruled against the owners. If they eventually lose, this case will essentially allow any governor of any state to assume despotic and arbitrary power over all citizens, whenever they wish.

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

19 comments

  • Robert Pratt

    A closure is a taking. Pay up.

  • Milt

    While we have to wish the business owners every success in this instance, “our” government in Washington is planning an even more effective end run around the US Constitution in the form of pending new amendments to WHO’s International Health Regulations.

    https://stateofthenation.co/?p=115779

    https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA75/A75_18-en.pdf

    Quoting from the first post:

    “[Provisional agenda item 16.2] will empower WHO’s Director-General to declare health emergencies or crises in any nation and to do so unilaterally and against the opposition of the target nation. The Director-General will be able to declare these health crises based merely on his personal opinion or consideration that there is a potential or possible threat to other nations.

    If passed, the Biden Administration’s proposed amendments will, by their very existence and their intention, drastically compromise the independence and the sovereignty of the United States. The same threat looms over all the U.N.’s 193 member nations, all of whom belong to WHO and represent 99.44% of the world population.

    These regulations are a ‘binding instrument of international law entered into force on 15 June 2007.’ U.N. members states can be required by law to obey or acquiesce to them.”

    While ceding national sovereignty to unelected international bodies and obviating the Constitution is pretty much the raison d’être for the Biden-Ho Administration, this proposed action will effectively strip all control of US health policy from elected officials, including Congress. Under a UN / WHO declared “health emergency,” there will be no appeal from whatever mandatory measures are decreed necessary, and state and local officials will — at least in theory — be required to implement these actions, up to and including the use of deadly force if necessary. Recall how this has played out in places like Communist China and Australia where residents have been locked in their apartments or sent to the equivalent of FEMA camps.

    If these new regulations should go into effect, there will be *no legal protection from them,* and US authorities will be required to implement them to the fullest extent. Granted some states (like Florida) and local governments may attempt to resist complying with such orders, but in doing so they will be in clear and direct “violation of established law.”

    Moreover, unlike the current case of the litigation in Michigan, there will be no legal recourse for *anything* that governments may do in this case, including mandatory vaccination, indefinite warrantless detention and the taking of property, all ordained by a “higher international authority” to which there will be no appeal. Again, at the behest of the Biden-Ho Administration our present system of constitutional checks and balances, the rule of law, and the concept of the consent of the governed will all be swept away by this process, and the mere taking of our property will be the *least* of our worries.

  • Milt

    A Postscript

    Under these proposed regulations, should the WHO declare that there is a “women’s health emergency” in the United States because of the anticipated ruling of the Supreme Court and the prospect of subsequent state-imposed restrictions on access to abortion, there would — again in theory — be no way in which these directives could be refuted. The High Court’s decision would be effectively nullified, and there would be no “higher authority” to which to appeal.

    In this case, it ought to be perfectly clear to even the dimmer animals (Cf, Orwell’s Animal Farm) how this process would effectively remove the Supreme Court from its traditional role of determining what is settled law in the United States, and this kind of overt, in-your-face loss of self determination and national sovereignty ought to give everyone at least a little pause.

    Unhappily, this is precisely what the bureaucrats in Washington WANT, and they are counting on the fact that most people — including far too many “Republicans” and “Conservatives” will continue to ignore what they are doing to us.

  • wayne

    Anyone have a PDF of the actual suit? Can’t read through the whole article at the epoch times, before it blocks me.

    Two of these bowling centers (Imlay City & Sanilac) are located in the ‘thumb’ area of Michigan. Relatively sparsely populated area and everyone knows everyone else. Corn fields and dairy cows come to mind.
    Ref: Pete Tomassoni– If his bowling center is in “close proximity to Wisconsin,” he’s in the western Upper-peninsula, and both northern Wisconsin & Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are mostly State & Federal Forest areas. ->More Deer than people, truth be told.

  • wayne: If you can find it I will add a link to the story. I have been trying to include such things in every pushback story, but in this case couldn’t find it.

  • Cotour

    Related:

    “HAND ME THE **** SAW”

    Bill Mahre, Liberal Democrat, at his best once again taking the crazy***ed extreme Left “Progressives” to the woodshed:

    https://youtu.be/mMBzfUj5zsg 9min.

  • Cotour

    And in all fairness, Mahre takes apart some Wack ado Conservatives: https://youtu.be/U9MX37aA6lM

    America, like no other.

  • wayne

    Mr. Z.,
    Thanks for finding the PDF of the complaint.

    Ref: Our whacky governor–she is up for re-election this year.

  • wayne

    “Brunswick: The Golden Years” (1958)
    https://youtu.be/62jc0fIpt5s
    14:32

  • Jeff Wright

    And the poor folks there got hit with a twister today.
    https://weather.com/news/news/2022-05-20-gaylord-michigan-tornado-latest

  • Realist

    The “dreizinreport”: “The #1 Structural Problem with U.S. Governance”

    “We need a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to prohibit persons and entities with no genuine presence or operations in a given state, from donating money to campaigns in that state. ”

    https://thedreizinreport.com/2022/05/20/the-1-structural-problem-with-u-s-governance/

  • wayne

    Jeff–
    yes, we don’t normally have tornadoes that far North in Michigan.
    And concurrently, we had a wildfire that consumed 2,500 acres in Montmorency County, which is east of Gaylord in a heavily forested and sparsely populated area. (lighting strike smoldered and lit up.)

    Realist–
    Bad idea, and unconstitutional.
    Money is speech.

    For infinitely more doable Amendments–>
    https://conventionofstates.com/

  • Cotour

    HOW DESPERATE THE LEFT AND THE MSM?

    The woke Left (D) understands that they are in major trouble. Big, big existential trouble.

    The Democrat party may be out of political power for the next 10 or more years because of their political treachery.

    Nicloe Wallace, the queen of actual disinformation pumped out by the now Globalist anti American corporate media. They always tell you what they are doing and what they fear the most by what they accuse others of.

    TRAILER: Nicolle Wallace: The Typhoid Mary of Disinformation (rumble.com) https://rumble.com/embed/v12pvp8/?pub=4

    Glen Greenwald? He is without doubt an extreme Liberal at the minimum, but he is an honest journalist.

    Journalism, I remember journalism before the desperation and the crazy.

    There are a few remaining.

    https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIF.q%252bUFN%252bHbLnhn3WCWBP808Q%26w%3D318%26h%3D175%26c%3D7%26r%3D0%26o%3D5%26dpr%3D1.25%26pid%3D1.7&t=1653232497&ymreqid=dc7face7-d905-7706-2f2c-5a0be0016f00&sig=ZNnqOgOoxCofndkhr_S8eg–~D

  • Realist

    Wayne:

    Debunking the “Debunkers” – Ukrainian M777 Howitzers Attacked

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPuK_7r7YaI

  • Realist

    John Mark Dougan: “EXCLUSIVE! AZOV Battalion Mariupol Headquarters Walkthrough” (15 min)

    “Join me and a few other select journalists, like Nikita, along with the #Russian #Army as we walk through the #captured #Mariupol headquarters of the #AZOV Battalion. Is there really American ammunition and American military training manuals, surrounded by thousands of examples of #Nazi symbolism? This is a video you have to SEE to Believe. Don’t miss it and share it with your friends!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSKqqw511do

  • wayne

    Enemy at the Gates
    Soviet Charge Scene
    https://youtu.be/L8fWp-i-BGA
    3:58

  • Realist

    Wayne:

    It’s nice to see that you’ve learned and recognized something: Ukrainians = Nazis. Here’s a little gift for you to keep you entertained:

    “The Dreizin Report – Ukraine War & Aftermat: 05-22-2022- Evolution of recent U.S. weapons deliveries to the Ukraine”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHAnlVjz5Bw&t=1s

  • Cotour

    IS THIS THE GREAT RESET THAT HAS BEEN PROMISED? (Copy and share with someone with a pulse)

    Is this the Great Reset as you were warned about by the World Economic Forums Klaus Schwab? “People will become very angry” he said.
    Klaus Schwab: https://youtu.be/5jZaICzQGaE 50 sec. Just one more “well-meaning” Nazi? Looks like a duck to me.

    And is it beginning for real in Sri Lanka? No fuel, no food, no work, no nothing, everything at a standstill. But they are on the road to zero carbon footprint you know. (Are there too many of them anyway? Are there too many of us?)

    https://youtu.be/-hgdOUSeE3c

    Think it cannot come to America? Think again, where do you think our Democrat party totally on board with zero carbon footprint for America delivers us? Are you paying your fair share? Have a baby? Got formula? https://youtu.be/J9H5AdV4TwE

    First you must raze what is in order to implement what must be.

    The tip of the iceberg? Belgium becomes first country to introduce compulsory monkeypox quarantine | Daily Mail Online

    First an election had to be won at all costs by one side of the American political divide and Covid conveniently provide the vehicle to ensure the election went as needed (?). Mail in voting is the most corrupt form of voting invented by man. And now we have a midterm election in November that will without doubt, unless extreme actions are taken, will remove the Democrat party machine from power in the Congress and Senate. Removed from power for 10 years? More?

    And now what is being introduced to the American public just before that next key election? *THE MONKEY POX*! But don’t worry, they have your next compulsory shot freeze dried in vials and waiting for you right now.

    And conveniently the American government / CDC / W.H.O. and I am certain Bill gates and the like have ensured that the solution to that new threat being introduced to the public consciousness that may well keep people separated and the coming election to be conducted through mail? Hmmmmm, lots of questions.

    Hello little ducky :)

    https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FOIP.1N8BokPxVWqUCfYxrC-TvQHaEK%3Fw%3D285%26h%3D180%26c%3D7%26r%3D0%26o%3D5%26dpr%3D1.25%26pid%3D1.7&t=1653317217&ymreqid=dc7face7-d905-7706-2f2c-5a0e5d016f00&sig=EovXHxgsZP3wWvUfUaqLkQ–~D

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *