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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. There are five 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. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
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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.


George C. Scott’s Patton speech

An evening pause: The opening speech from the 1970 movie Patton that captured the character of one of America’s most unique and successful generals.

Patton was a difficult man with little diplomacy, but then, soldiers are not hired to be diplomats. (At least we didn’t when America was the sane country of courageous fighters, as described in this speech.) Yet, as difficult as he was, his philosophy of war was a direct descendant of the war strategy and tactics of Ulysses S. Grant. As Patton is believed to have actually said,

“Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose!”

This was how Grant won the Civil War. It was how Americans fought every war that followed through World War II. Sadly, that philosophy was lost by the bureaucratic military that developed during the Cold War.

If only we had generals and political leaders today who understand this utterly essential approach for winning wars.

One note: The speech’s language at times violates my rules about obscenities. In the context of war and death however I think the use of such language wholly appropriate.

Hat tip Daniel Morris.

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

10 comments

  • Ian C.

    I know what you’re aiming at, Afghanistan. Granted, the situation in Afghanistan is bad. But do you know what’s worse? Climate change.

    (Hahaha.)

    P.S.: He also said “We have defeated the wrong enemy.” What did he mean by that?

  • Peter Monta

    Trump played this very clip at the start of his rally in Alabama a week ago.

  • Alex Andrite

    Where are our Warriors today ?

    I pray for our Armed Forces daily,
    As I was one long ago.

    Strange Days are upon us..
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI76mRtSD9g

  • Max

    What did he mean by that?

    The enemy is US

    https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article252445013.html
    “America’s top military leader used the term “white rage” to describe a crisis facing the country”
    “The Biden administration should declare this a clear and present danger. Bring together experts in sociology, psychology, religion and economics to address root causes, determine strategies for outreach or, at least, find ways to insulate those more open to living in a multicultural democracy”
    “Considering the country’s unfinished business on racial equity, why should we give more attention to white people with unhinged actions and beliefs? Because they are wreaking havoc. We are preoccupied now with refighting old battles, such as voting rights, while being distracted from urgent challenges like climate change.”

    “Also, by responding with more than politics and prosecutions, we just might learn something.”

    So, what preemptive action is the Biden administration prepared to take? To hobble all you lawbreakers out there before you commit your crime?
    https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2596591/dod-exercise-highlights-need-to-address-climate-change-its-impacts/

    “Elliptic Thunder, which was co-sponsored by the Office of Stability and Humanitarian Affairs and the Joint Staff J5, took place March 25. Based upon future climate, economic and population forecasts”
    “A combination of floods, droughts, and cyclones led to shortages of food, water, and energy — causing large-scale instability and migration. This instability expanded opportunities for extremist groups and strategic rivals to gain influence with consequences for U.S. national security and defense objectives.”

    Our betters are preparing for the United States to become Afghanistan. A preemptive strike against Maga hat conservatives to take over food, water, and resources to prevent unconventional warfare. (Think house to house searches for the hoarding of food and weapons)

    “A whole-of-government approach is needed to address climate and environmental security threats across the federal government. Partnerships with industry, academia and non-profit organizations can improve sharing and coordination of data-collection, modeling, disaster response initiatives and early warning best practices.”

    But Biden doesn’t trust our military, they’re too white and patriotic… Fortunately they have a solution.
    “Future exercises, she said, might include greater participation from allies and partners to include experts from NATO, the United Nations, the scientific community, the humanitarian and disaster recovery community and other relevant experts”

    UN troops are coming to a community “near you” with their new blackhawk helicopters from their Muslim outreach program.
    And they’re all experts, you can tell because they wear “white coats” just like the SS Nazis in T4

    By the way, did you know the five EYES quit sharing information with New Zealand? They were sharing everything they had with China!

  • wayne

    Serendipitously, I recently binge-watched “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific,” and “Patton.” No way we fight WW-2 today, and win.

    Peter-
    Took me 3 days to find that Alabama Trump Rally on YT!

    “Everything Woke, turns to [expletive.]”
    Donald J. Trump

  • wayne

    D. J. Trump: “Everything woke turns to [expletive]”
    August 21, 2021 Cullman, Alabama
    https://youtu.be/iIF2rdXnpMo
    1:34

  • wayne

    Jocko Willink: Afghanistan
    The Speech Joe Biden should have given…..
    https://youtu.be/Kp_YPYx6sRw
    3:30

    “If I were president, and I had put our country into the current situation in Afghanistan, I would tell America, our allies, our enemies, and the world, something like this….”

  • born01930

    An interesting take on Patton:

    https://youtu.be/vB2zZWk9TfU

  • Jeff Wright

    I think in the past individuals thought to be conservative was the same as being Christian…like Charlie Wilson. Several liken themselves to the Centurion at the Cross than the Soul upon it. I fear the Left will use the piles of equipment neo-cons amassed against us. It was always Mammon vs Sodom in the GOP vs DNC, with one letting Wall Street kill main street and the other attacking history. I find the current narrative ‘pull-outs are bad’ troubling as now brass heavy generals could be the new Fauci-force. This is pantomime…not politics as Punch and Judy can have the same set of Satanic hands up both their backsides. In short-be careful what you venerate. Stars and Stripes are camo of the demonic. Be watchful!

  • wayne

    born01930-
    That, looks to be a very interesting video! Downloading it right now.

    I’ll toss this one in–>

    Victor Davis Hanson
    Hillsdale College Event (Feb 2020)
    “George S. Patton: American Ajax”
    https://youtu.be/EJsC-buIkSE
    1:02:38

    Xenophon wrote that a successful general “must be resourceful, active, careful, hardy, and quick-witted; he must be both gentle and brutal, at once straightforward and designing, capable of both caution and surprise, lavish and rapacious, generous and mean, skillful in defense and attack.”

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