Thank you for your generous support!
My short one week fund-raiser for Behind the Black is now over. Those who like my work are still welcome to donate or subscribe, but the offer of free books has ended. If you mailed a check with a postmark prior to midnight November 11, 2022, I will send you your bonus book once I get it.
Regardless, I want to thank everyone for the support. This fund-raiser has now made 2022 my best year yet as a blogger. Though I hardly make a living wage from doing this, this year was more than enough to pay the bills. Thank you all again!
And if you decide you wish to subscribe or donate, look for the tip jar elsewhere on the page.
This post will remain at the top of the page for the rest of the weekend. Scroll down for new posts and updates.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. 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.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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.
Wow. PayPal and patron charge 12%! I had no idea. Gabpay seems reasonable.
Bob: I must note that since I have not yet gotten any payments through Gabpay, my estimate of their 2% fee might be wrong. I base it on what their website says, but my experience has been that such information rarely matches reality.
However, if you use Gabpay please comment here. You would be the first, and if something isn’t right and I don’t get your donation, I would need to know.
I wish I could switch to Zelle from Paypal, but here is Canada Zelle is not available.
Zelle was flaky today. 6th time a charm though.
Setup Zelle today for a Paypal alternative. Zelle doesn’t work with my main bank’s electronic banking but does with my alternate bank. Zelle product failed to work for using a debit card on banks to which it’s not linked. Not impressed with its setup methods but will invest more time in it due to big savings on fees. Plan to use it tomorrow to pay a large bill to a contractor. Then I’ll see how its unknown amount limits play out. Apparently that depends on the bank.
Robert Pratt: Since I started to encourage my readers to use Zelle, I would say that almost 80% of donations have shifted to it from Paypal. The subscriptions on Paypal have dropped from 100% to about 75%, with both Zelle and Patreon grabbing that market share.
It appears that Paypal has taken a gigantic hit in business by even considering the idea it had the right to steal its customers’ money.