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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.

 

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Today’s blacklisted American: Thin blue line banned on flags in Los Angeles and suburban Philadelphia

They’re coming for you next: Today’s blacklist story illustrates most starkly the intolerant and insane culture that is now taking over many Democratic Party-controlled regions of the United States. Government officials in both Los Angeles and the town of Springfield, a suburb of Philadelphia, have banned use of the American flag with a thin blue line that for years has been used to symbolized support of the police and those who have fallen in duty.

In both cases, the banning occurred because some leftists made unsubstantiated accusations that the line really represented “white supremacy” and thus is racist. No evidence of course was ever presented to prove those allegations, but who cares about evidence in this day and age? All that matters is that the accusation is made, and all must immediately kow-tow to it, even if it destroys the first amendment and the lives of many innocent people.

LA police chief Michael Moore
LA police chief Michael Moore

Now for the specifics. In Los Angeles the chief of the LA police department on January 13, 2023 banned the use of the flag after receiving one complaint.

The “Thin Blue Line” flag has been banned from Los Angeles Police Department lobbies along with all other public areas on police property following a complaint from one person who thought it signified support for “extremist” ideologies such as “those espoused by the Proud Boys,” according to the chief.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore sent an email to department personnel on Friday making the announcement to remove the flags, blaming “extremist groups” who have “hijacked the use” of the Thin Blue Line.

Moore was desperate to protect the sensitive feelings of that one person, even though no evidence at all was presented to prove the allegations, and the police union and its nearly 10,000 members were utterly opposed to his decision.

“It is difficult to express the level of utter disgust and disappointment with Chief Moore’s politically pandering directive to remove Thin Blue Line flags and memorials for fallen officers from all public areas within our police stations,” the union representatives wrote.

Once again, there is no evidence at all that the thin blue line flags are anything but flags in honor of the police. By falsely slandering it as a symbol of white supremacy, the left is telling us that it now aims to ban from the public square anything that they oppose. Rather than debate, banning will now be their tactic, always.

Springfield Township Board of Commissioners
The Springfield Township Board of Commissioners

Next we have the suburban town of Springfield, located just west of Philadelphia. Some individuals made the accusation that the flag was a “symbol of white supremacy,” once again without any evidence. After more than a year of debate, the issue was finally put to a vote on January 11, 2023, and the eternally outraged won.

After hours of public comment Wednesday night, the Springfield Township Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 to approve a resolution banning the “thin blue line on an American flag” that the township’s Police Benevolent Association (PBA) has adopted as a symbol. Critics call the image, widely used at public events to honor fallen police officers, a “symbol of white supremacy.”

That argument carried the day.

The thin blue line cannot be seen on township property, on police uniforms, or on their bodies (tattoos) while on duty, or on township property in the Montgomery County town.

The attitude of the intolerant winners can be seen in the comments of one commissioner, Peter Wilson, who is sitting in the lower left in the picture above:

Commissioner Peter Wilson said, “We have extended numerous opportunities for compromise with the PBA. They’ve been rebuffed…These symbols cannot be allowed to exist if they cause offense to anyone in our community.” [emphasis mine]

Ironically, the PBA, which has twice voted against removing the flag, is a private organization and cannot be compelled to go along with this edict — at least at this moment. Give these thugs time, and they will eventually cancel all parts of the first amendment, and commissioner Wilson will get his way: Speech that he disagrees with will be forever banned.

This quote from one local resident who has displayed the flag in front of his home in honor of a policeman killed while on duty illustrates the ugly intolerance represented by commissioner Wilson and his side:

“My house is now targeted,” said English. “I am looked down upon. My family is looked upon as white supremacists. And to use that term so loosely in this society is disgusting. It’s vile. These are the vilest people on earth and this is what you’re comparing people to.”

Once again, the accusation is based on nothing. It is merely a slander used to destroy people, or to fill them with fear so that they obey the demands of the bullies in charge. You will not dissent from leftist ideology, or you will be destroyed.

If any of my readers are local residents of Springfield and wish to let the commissioners know what you think of their narrow-mindedness, you can find the email addresses of the commissioners here. Note that the commissioners who voted for this banning are James M. Lee, Baird M. Standish, Susanna O. Ratsavong, James M. Lee, Peter D. Wilson, and Eddie T. Graham.

Commissioners Jonathan C. Cobb and Michael Maxwell refused to kow-tow, and voted to support the First Amendment.

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

  • sippin_bourbon

    Still looking for the “right to not be offended” in the Constitution” .

  • pzatchok

    Can’t you see it?
    Its right after the part about the governments duty to protect your feelings.

    Feelings are all over the place in that old outdated document written by hate filled racist white men.

  • Curious about the enforcement mechanism, here. These people expect the same-same police officers they’ve just slapped in the face to enforce their whims? Yeah. I’m not sensing a lot of urgency on the part of law enforcement.

  • Dear Commissioner Commissar Wilson,

    Will you next pass a “resolution” to arrest and re-educate Conservatives? Just asking for a friend.

    That off of my chest, someone needs to violate this resolution and take these jerks to SCOTUS if needs be. These are a bunch of tyrants.

  • First, a counter-point: “These are the vilest people on earth and this is what you’re comparing people to.” Really? White-supremists are the vilest people on earth? All six of them are worse than slavers or pedophiles or genital mutilators (your call on whether I’m referring to gender-affirming physicians or Islamists)? Frankly, “white supremist” is becoming a badge of honor.

    As for the point: I put a Gadson flag under my US flag after the FBI published their memo about that being a white supremist symbol. The US flag is getting tattered (it’s windy here), so when I replace it, I’ll hang the blue-line flag, which my white supremist self already owns, beneath it and let the Gadson flag rest for a while. (picture at link under my name)

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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