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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.

 

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

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Kevin McCarthy drops out of Speaker election

Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has just announced that he is dropping out of the race for House Speaker.

This is a breaking story, so details remain sparse. However, McCarthy’s exit today suggests that the power of the conservatives, who just yesterday threw their backing to Daniel Webster (R-Florida), is very strong. With two of the top guys from the old Republican leadership out, things are now certainly going to change in the House. This opens up the Speaker election, making it possible for a new compromise candidate to step forward. More important, that candidate is going to have to respect the demands of the conservative wing, which forced this election.

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

5 comments

  • Phill O

    A step in the “right” direction! Let us hope that the investigation into Hillary continues at full speed. I will say she is one tough cookie. I am learning that morals and politics do not mix. Maybe after the next election!

  • Rick

    I just hope the FBI is doing a legitimate investigation, although the Clinton corruption has long tentacles throughout the government.

  • Phill O

    You mean that it is not for show?

  • Cotour

    Phill, politics is much, much more about perception and not at all about either truth or morality, only perception.

    And I do not say that in a flip or casual way, truth and morality are optional for those at the highest levels of any government and we the people in many circumstances are only numbers and are expendable. And that is how in reality people must understand their government, all government.

    We the people from our perspective immersed in society call it lying, at the highest levels it is understood as justified and called an acceptable interpretation related to the greater good (a subjective judgement). This is why the people in many instances are confused about what is going on right in front of their faces.

  • Edward

    Cotour is correct. Politics is all about getting what the politician wants. That is why it is so important to vote for the person who wants what you want, and why politicians try so hard to sound as though they want what the voters want — then ignore the wishes of the voters, the promises that they made, and the truth, morals, and perceptions that they made on the voters. They are only there for their own purposes, and we can only hope that their purposes are also our own purposes.

    I once drove Route 66, but in many towns the route depended upon which era you wanted to recreate. The route would change with changes in mayors, because new mayors would change the route to pass in front of their own businesses. They had become mayor strictly for the purpose of increasing their own business — for selfish, corrupt, and greedy reasons.

    We can only hope that the people we elect are patriots who are more concerned about the general welfare than with their own. We cannot rely upon their words, but we *can* rely upon their previous actions and how long they have taken those actions.

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.

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