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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. There are five 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. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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.


45 Republicans vote against Paul Ryan nomination

The Republicans have nominated Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) for Speaker of the House with only 200 of 245 votes.

Those 45 members are enough to block him from getting the Speakership during the partisan floor vote on Thursday — if the 45 GOP legislators maintain their opposition, and if Ryan is not aided by a last-minute bloc of Democratic votes.

During the closed-door conference, Ryan won just 200 votes for the nomination. Former Florida House Speaker Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) earned a whopping 43 votes. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — who isn’t officially running for Speaker — received one vote. House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who dropped out of the Speakership race a couple weeks ago, got one vote as well.

The failure on Ryan’s part to win 218 votes—the threshold for anyone to win the Speakership on the House floor assuming every member of the House is present and voting for a person—is a major embarrassment on his part.

If those who opposed Ryan in this Republican vote maintain that opposition when the whole House votes, the only way Ryan can become Speaker is if he gets Democratic votes. If that happens than either he won’t become Speaker or the Republican Party faces a breakup.

Based on recent events with the budget deal, it might make sense for some of these fake conservatives in the Republican Party to admit their real loyalty and join the Democrats. The conservatives would then probably lose control of Congress, but at least we would know where people honestly stood.

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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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

  • Phill O

    Consider this; the left will not compromise so the right is the side that always compromises to get things done. Being able to work across the aisle is touted as good, but it means the right always has to compromise. The things John B. indicates he won on against the Dems were all small ticket items. The stuff that really matters, they have caved on. When one governs on the right (things that are good for the country) one loses power as seen in Canada with Stephen Harper in the past election. Why? Basic personal greed! Folk will always vote for the things that matter to them, not the good of the country. The politicians know this and their motivation is power. In order to keep power, they will give people stuff.

    Those who look out for the country’s good are looking at long term benefit to themselves. In a healthy economy, there are jobs and people have buying power. One can run a viable business within a country when people have buying power.

    I am somewhat surprised at how quickly Ryan bought into the Washington power grab.

    What we are seeing is worldwide. Remember the French revolution; we are seeing something similar in that the masses are voting for what they can get for themselves. Greece is a good example of this and that there is no compromise by the masses.

  • Cotour

    THE POLITICIANS BLUE PRINT FOR WEALTH

    You always wanted to know how the politically empowered among us become so wealthy, right?

    Paul Ryan, big government RINO and anti Trumper, is moving back to Washington D.C., a place that he “Despises”. (Really?)

    Why? I am certain to be a lobbyist and fixer and to work for the Fox corporation.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/20/paul-ryan-returns-to-washington-1468994

    What else will be be doing?

    Funneling the remaining $7 MILLION dollars left in his campaign funds to his Foundation “The American Idea Foundation”. (What an original name)

    And now we understand why there are sooooo many Democrat candidates in the race, all of that dirty filthy money that has been sent to them in support for their presidential campaign now is giant nest egg that pays and pays for years to come carrying salaries and overhead for their “Foundations”.

    Its really quite a scam, all while these ex politicos of both party’s rake in millions in fees and salaries as a result of their new careers, usually further selling out the American people who has generously funnded their activities.

    Does that satisfy your curiosity about how politicians become so wealthy? Now you know.

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