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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.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent independent analysis you don’t find elsewhere. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn’t influenced by donations by established companies or political movements. 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.

 

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.

 

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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.


A GAO report has found no evidence that TSA personnel can spot terrorists at airport checkpoints.

Does this make you feel safer? A GAO report has found no evidence that TSA personnel can spot terrorists at airport checkpoints.

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

3 comments

  • Orion314

    This comes as no surprise. The purpose of the creation of the TSA and Homeland “Security” is not to spot or stop terrorism at all.
    It was created to extend an out of control and lawless regime’s power. The USG’s real enemies are any citizens of the USA who believe in rule of law and the Constitution of the United States of America.

  • Pzatchok

    Why don’t they just ask if the TSA personnel even want to spot a terrorist?

    Think of it.
    You get paid just over minimum wage, or it at least feels that way.
    Work long hours.
    Get no appreciation.
    Have no prospects for advancement.
    Have crappy health care.
    And a poor retirement.
    On top of it all you have to serve people who always think they are better than you and have someplace far more important to be. And they let you know it all day long. Everyday.

    Now why do I want to be the guy to spot the mad bomber, point him out and possibly make him set off his bomb early just so his day wasn’t wasted. Killing me in the process.

    Yep why in the world would I slack off and not really look for that bomb?

  • Orion314

    I have no doubt, that if the Airlines enacted their own version of TSA, they would be far more effective at it.Both in cost/results , and even increased customer satisfaction.

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.

 

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