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My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

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The Ryan budget deal includes a provision that limits the ability of the Senate minority to block tax increases.

The stupid party: The Ryan budget deal includes a provision that limits the ability of the Senate minority to block tax increases.

The bill includes language from the Senate Democrats’ budget that voids senators’ ability to raise a budget “point of order” against replacing the sequester cuts with tax increases. The process is quite complicated, but in practice it grants Harry Reid the authority to send tax increases to the House with a bare majority, rather than the 60-vote threshold that would be required under a point of order.

In other words, another example of a Republican getting hosed in negotiations.

Though I have read several conservative reports about this deal that outline some of its positive benefits, on the whole it appears to be another defeat for the right.

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

4 comments

  • Don

    Insane, that is the Republican House ‘leadership’.

    This deal adds ~$3 trillion to the national debt, thus it needs to be defeated.

    Nor do I believe that the House can limit the Senate’s ability to do something so it appears unconstitutional as well as insane.

  • mpthompson

    Not just a defeat. We kicked the bloody ball into our own damn goal.

  • Publius 2

    Our grandchildren will curse us if we do not bring this out of control Congress to a halt. We need to get their attention. My proposal would be to vote them all out, give their replacements two years of probation, and if they fail to accomplish what needs to be done, vote them out as well. We could hardly do worse.

  • Pzatchok

    Don’t pass a rule that your not willing to let the other side have when they have power.

    I can’t help but think Ryan is setting them up for the great Obama care purge when the republicans retake everything.

    For the democrats to take this rule change in the hopes that they could change it back just before the election is the real stupid move. Half of them will be off campaigning and not willing to get into a huge fight over something back in Washington.

    Ask yourself this before condemning the republicans. Are these the rule changes you want when the republicans retake power?

    Ryan is smart. He has fought this long and hard for a reason and to seemingly give in now is foolish on his part. He has a plan.

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