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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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Why Barrett’s confirmation went fast: Senate Republicans finally grew a spine

Link here. The author outlines all the ways the Democrats tried to duplicate their slander campaign against Brett Kavanaugh, then notes this:

The biggest difference is that Republicans simply weren’t playing with these attacks. Each and every one of these stories — and dozens of similar ones — was met with swift condemnation or yawns. Every single one.

It took a few decades of the left playing the exact same games with most confirmation battles, but finally, the right figured out how to render those attacks worthless. It’s not just conservative Americans, but the senators themselves who are playing this differently.

Rather than the Senate Judiciary Committee immediately responding to the Washington Post’s anti-Kavanaugh attack by bending to the will of the Democrats, this time they just didn’t care. As Democrats openly said on national television that they would do anything to stop Barrett’s confirmation, rather than act scared, the Republicans were not moved. They haven’t responded with outrage or drama, but just a steely resolve to get the nomination done. [emphasis mine]

Why it took Senate Republicans decades to figure out this basic premise, that the best way to deal with bullies and temper tantrums is to ignore them, is another question. It suggests that for decades those Republicans really liked bowing to those tantrums, because they really didn’t want to achieve any of the conservative goals their voters wanted and that they always campaigned on.

However, fake conservative senators like Jeff Flake and Bob Corker are gone, replaced with senators who are either more legitimately conservative (Marsha Blackburn) or faced with a tough reelection fight that forces toughness (Martha McSally). The result is that no Republican in the Senate is willing to play the Democrat’s game anymore. They can scream and kick and hold their breath, but on Monday Amy Barrett will be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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

19 comments

  • Phill O

    You have Trump to thank, and those who back him. He is a leader! He says what most Americans wish to say! He is tough. Some may say egocentric and a jerk. I agree but it takes someone with that kind of guts to lead through difficult times.

    No doubt that the RINOs were as corrupt as the whole of the Democrat party. I as reminded that chewing gum shared in the trenches is soon forgotten when victory is achieved. Stalin had his purges, as did Hitler. Antifa and BLM should learn this from history, but, I am afraid, it will take making the mistake themselves.

  • LocalFluff

    Lawyer to Hunter:
    “- Did you leave that laptop to that repairman and ignore all his calls?
    – Oh I don’t know. I somehow lost it. And I ignore all calls from people I don’t already trust. Yeah maybe I did. I dont remember. I was on a trip back then.
    – Did you store child pornography on that computer?
    – Do I have to answer that question?
    – Are you on drugs?
    – If I have to answer THAT question, then I need a better lawyer. Daddy, where are your helpers when I need’em?”

  • Andrew M Winter

    Honestly,

    I think that spine was grown during the last two years of the Obama Presidency wherein McConnel stonewalled darn near every judicial nomination that Obama made. This left Trump in a perfect position to fill over 1/3 of the federal judgeships with his nominess. And McConnel has backed every single one of them.

    This alone has done more to protect and restore my conservative values regarding the governance of America than every Rep. President I have lived through combined! For this Trump will get my vote. Promises Kept.

  • Bernard

    I certainly hope that the Democrats learn this lesson from the Republicans. Ramming through stuff with no regard to the minority party. Once Trumps gets his buttocks handed to him in less than two weeks and the Democrats take the Senate they can take that lesson and ram through all kinds of stuff – expanding the SCOTUS, medicare for all, progressive marginal tax rates…the list goes on.
    I mean, you all have no problem with the party in the majority doing whatever they want, right?

  • Cotour

    If the Democrats held the presidency and the senate they would have done the exact same thing as the Republicans and installed their supreme court nominee. PERIOD.

    This Democrat delusion that “Its not normal”. And “Normal” being their standard for everything they do. Right. Their hive Borg mind knows nothing of fair and balanced or “Normal”. (And if I heard the name Merrit Garland one more time)

    Bernard, you must be watching too much MSN. I strongly suspect that Trump and Pence, who are out working Biden and Harris 10 to one, 20 to one will prevail in never before seen numbers, both in the electoral votes and in pure numbers. A Trumpian win by all measures. The highest black votes as well as Hispanic votes.

    The Democrats are not involved in a presidential race, the Democrats are involved in witnessing the death of their previous party. To be reborn in what form I do not know.

    And if Biden, who we can all agree is today a doddering old man and not in any way, shape or form qualified to inhabit the oval office, and who has some real and serious connections to pay for play, possibly criminal schemes in the millions of dollars being revealed that he was actively involved in wins this election it can only be due to massive fraud and corruption. Nothing more or less.

    The Democrats are as desperate as any political party has ever been and they will do ANYTHING, up to and including murder to prevail. Have no doubt.

    Q: Who is watching all of these early ballots received by mail in all of these counties in all of these states?

    Bernard…………..MAGA

  • Bernard

    Cotour,

    This ongoing fixation that the right has with supposed crimes that have been committed by Obama, Clinton, Biden, etc., is getting very tiresome. Trump and his allies have held the Senate since his inauguration. Trump has had a lap dog for Attorney General essentially since his inauguration, but certainly since old Bill took the spot. There have been no Senate intelligence or other investigations into supposed wrongdoing by the previous administration that have yielded any real. There has been no DOJ investigation that has actually resulted in any kind of charges. So, either there were no crimes and therefore nothing to charge them with or Trump and his cronies are simply incompetent in investigating and prosecuting them. Take your pick, I guess.

    And I have little doubt that the Democrats would have done the same thing. As I said, I hope they learn this lesson and start playing hardball themselves. Trump has every right to put forth a SCOTUS nomination right now and the Senate has a duty to consider that nomination. There is nothing unconstitutional about this. It is dripping with hypocrisy, but certainly within their rights.

    You can make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud all you like – the president does it all the time. All of the mail in ballots are being ‘watched’ by the same local election authorities that have always done the same thing in prior elections. Although the volume of mail in voting is obviously higher this year and will undoubtedly put a strain on the system, they will do their jobs as they have always done. And just as always, there will be nearly non-existent election fraud regardless of all the mindless stammering, lies and misinformation of DJT and his cult.

    The red wave is a myth. The Trumpublicans are going to get crushed. You all know this or you wouldn’t already be screaming about fraud and corruption. I am sure that Zimmerman is already working on the article that he will post on November 4th denouncing the election results and providing ‘proof’ of widespread voter fraud. Hopefully the Democrats have learned from the past four years and enact their policies with force and disregard the complaints from the other side.

  • Edward

    Bernard wrote: “I certainly hope that the Democrats learn this lesson from the Republicans. Ramming through stuff with no regard to the minority party.

    Actually, this is a lesson that the Republicans finally learned from the Democratic Party, many years ago.

  • pzatchok

    The Republicans have finally learned the being a Republican and a Conservative is an electable trait.
    The press was lying this whole time.

  • wayne

    Cotour/Edward/pzatchok
    –good stuff.

    “So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.”
    – George Orwell, ‘Inside The Whale’

    Jordan Peterson reads about Communists in the Gulag
    [snippet from- “2017 Personality 13: Existentialism via Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag]
    https://youtu.be/klvNX8Lp4FI
    7:48

  • Cotour

    Bernard:

    I will tell you what I tell all of my confused, naive, misinformed and unconsciously anti Constitutional Liberal Democrat and now default Socialist friends. I will be here for you when you need me. (And you will be needing me).

    (Ask yourself, Bernard: Self, why is it that the Democrats strive to change the rules and long accepted standards of the Constitution like the voting age, like the electoral college, like stacking the supreme court? Self, why are the Democrats unable to operate within those well established and valid parameters of the Constitution? Do you know the answer? And I have to assume that you defend the likes of one, James Comey. And that says everything to me. You as a Democrat supporting the leaderships agenda seeks to raze the Constitution and start a new. They don’t like the rules any more, so you just attempt to change them.)

    IMO you are failing to understand that the media that you are watching and procuring the information that you are basing your read on is a fraud and is just as corrupt as the political party that they are shamelessly aligned with. They are both in the process of dying, to be resurrected in what form I do not know. But understand, they are both dying and their desperation is plain to me.

    Bernard………MAGA

  • Cotour

    Bernard, I just realized something and it relates to your content, rhetoric and political orientation.

    Is your last name Sanders?

    I have busted after recognizing their style at least one very famous person on BTB previously attempting to clandestinely participate here. I just wonder if I have busted #2?

    And not that I don’t want you to post here. I, and I am certain the Zman welcomes you, it only serves to reveal the faulty and dangerous political conclusions and Borg like mindless Democrat, I mean “Democrat Socialist”, Socialist pablum.

    I want everyone to see it, the more the merrier.

  • Cotour

    Bernard:

    You want to get a better and more objective perspective? Find your news as far away from the country as you can get. I have learned to go to Sky News, Australia.

    https://youtu.be/5649FAF3_ws

    Bernard………..MAGA

  • commodude

    Bernard,

    Did you completely sleep through the tenure of Sen. Reid as the majority leader in the Senate. He made massive changes, eliminating the filibuster for Executive Branch nominations, which was a shift of epic proportions in a body that relies on tradition for its underpinnings.

    The Democrats are just reaping what they’ve sown.

    Sadly, too many people have a memory span measurable in nanoseconds and forget the causes of the current issues.

  • wayne

    “Eighty” –
    Bernie Sanders
    (Alice Cooper Parody) | Louder With Crowder
    January 2020
    https://youtu.be/VU794e2jBOE
    3:21

  • wayne

    Cotour–
    Highly enjoy Sky News Australia myself.

    Mark Levin: When Will Harry Reid Go to Jail?
    January 2014
    https://youtu.be/HxTXeT8rbvU
    4:09

  • Cotour

    Bernard (Bernie),

    This is who you believe is going to be the next president of the United States, your country:

    https://youtu.be/3DbE2SmV2bs

    Only through fraud, corruption and chicanery will this man ever be the president. And if you support him and the Democrat agenda American self hatred and Socialism, then you and anyone who thinks similar sir need some serious therapy.

    Bernard…………..MAGA

  • wayne

    “That’s my other dog imitation.”
    “Kelly’s Heroes” (1970)
    https://youtu.be/ExADRo71j2w
    0:11

  • Cotour

    And Bernard (Bernie),

    This is also who you believe should be the next president of the United States: https://youtu.be/OWRtIA0vLbQ

    Vapid, not serious, distractionary, a divisive laughing Liberal / Leftist fool, the perfect Leftist tool of the destruction of the Constitution and a Globalist darling.

    What the heck is running through your brain? Oh, that’s right, its Communism that is running through your brain. It all makes perfect sense.

  • Cotour

    The deed is done.

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