Grateful thanks to everyone who donated during this year’s February fund drive
My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever. Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.
This post will remain at the top of the page for the next few days, just to make sure my thanks are seen by everyone. I can’t possibly send thanks personally to everyone, so this post will have to serve for all.
Scroll down for the most recent updates.
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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. 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.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Your website is a great one, and it has become a daily visit for me that is well worth supporting.
(But I DO feel that you should someday speak out about the stupidity of the “Kelvin Timeline” in Star Trek . . .)
Happy Birthday, by the way!!!
Yes, Happy Birthday to Mr. Z.
F–
here we go….
The USS Enterprise Supercut (Kelvin Timeline)
https://youtu.be/F2Wr2DLs7sI
16:23
Yowza–
The website is displaying weirdly in my browser. (Everything below the tip-jar, is displaying at the bottom of the page.)
Is it my machine, or the website?
Wayne,
Thank you. I must say that I found “Star Trek” (2009) to be a decent action movie, but a bit of a clumsy mess, and NOT a good “Star Trek” movie. (I would admit that “good” Star Trek storytelling often means poor box office success.) “Into Darkness” was a poor re-imagining of “Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan”. “Beyond” was beyond awful.
wayne: Can you give me a bit more detail? On a desktop, the webpage will display with the posts on the left and a right hand column with a search box at the top followed by the tip jar and then miscellanous standard webpage stuff. On a mobile phone that right hand column should go to the bottom, after the posts.
I have the same problem, on my Windows 11 laptop running Firefox. There is nothing below the tip jar; it has all moved to below the “leave a reply” boxes
Andi and Wayne: The problem should be fixed now.
“Andi and Wayne: The problem should be fixed now.”
You fired the entire Star Trek production team responsible for the last three films? Halleluiah!
Oh, and Happy Birthday!
Brewingfrog: If I had that kind of power over Star Trek, I would have fired everyone in about the second season of Voyager. :)
I will be starting a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new combined universe movie.
Leia, Luke, and Han will travel into the future to 2007, meeting Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, who have traveled into the past, to battle the Great Destroyer J.J. Abrams before he can begin his reign of terror.
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Mr. Zimmerman
Happy Birthday to you.
How old are you now
How old are you now
Ohhh, right 71!
About contributing; I have a monthly contribution through PayPal, however I would like to switch to Zelle. As you have noted, the fees are less so your net is higher.
Unfortunately Zelle does not accomodate Canadian subscribers. Can you suggest, for ‘us’, a better donation platform than Paypal?
– longtime follower
Peter Arzenshek: First, thank you for your very long support, now continuing for more than a decade. In fact, you are the second longest subscriber to BtB, for which I am endlessly grateful. You were here before practically anyone else.
As for another alternative payment method, the only other option is Patreon, which takes about the same cut, so I don’t see the point of switching.
You could also just send me a check once a year, multiplying your monthly donations by 12 to figure out the annual donation. The problem with this of course is that it is not automatic. You’d have to remember each year.
I wish there was an alternative to Zelle that covers international transfers, but at the moment I don’t know of one.
Peter– (congrats on being the 2nd longest subscriber!)
Question on Canada: If you know….
I live in Michigan (west coast); can I cross over into Windsor from Detroit without having participated in the experimental drug program??
And do I need an enhanced ID or a passport?
(This is dating me, last time I went to Canada I just drove across the bridge.)
Zelle is very convenient, i’m surprised more people don’t use it.
Nice work
Good evening. I posted a question here a couple of days ago and can’t find it now. I’m new to your web site and need some help in navigating my way around. The question was regarding a discussion you had with John Batchelor about your disappointment when you found out studies peer reviews were falsified (wasn’t the term you used) this really bothered you because you said you deal in facts. I would like to find that conversation to listen and give it my full attention.
Thank you in advance.
Sharon Rodgers: I have no way to pin down that particular Batchelor podcast. I was probably talking about this post from August 2023:
Retractions of peer-reviewed scientific papers has risen 13,750% in this century
Or maybe this post from December 2023:
In 2023 scientists set a new record for the most papers retracted
I should add that if you use the archive button in the right column and go to the dates immediately after these posts, you will find the podcasts that discuss them.
Bob:
I’m not major or famous but I do plug your work and Behind the Black.
Thank You.
Wayne- I don’t know if you got an answer to your Canada question, but to enter you will need one of passport, enhanced ID, global entry card, or nexus card. The ArriveCAN app is now optional, so I don’t think there any more Covid restrictions
I’m surprised your readership isn’t way down. I visit space news sites far less than I did during the exciting days of SpaceX Falcon 9 testing. I hadn’t been to one site in a couple years and last week I checked to see if it still existed.
Your blog is different in that it honestly looks at problems and their causes. Other space sites are like “conservative bloggers” who still write political articles about how Democrats and Republicans must reach across the aisle and work together to solve problems. They’re 7 years behind the times and most people don’t fall for that anymore.
James Street: Actually, my readership has been stable but slowly growing. I now generally get between 4 and 5 million hits per months. Maybe others have noticed my approach to reporting and decided they like it, also, as you do.
I must also thank you specifically for your very generous donations over the last few years. You are one of my largest supporters.
Andi-
Thank you!
“articles about how Democrats and Republicans must reach across the aisle and work together to solve problems.”
This means Republicans are to bend over and surrender every and all and the Democrats are to get whatever they desire.
Not acceptable, the Democrats must be defeated soundly, and the country brought back to a center Right orientation. The Conservatives must control the White House, the Congress and the Senate. Benevolent but strong Conservative leadership is the only way forward.
“Reaching across the aisle” and “Bipartisan” are Liberal / Leftist / RINO feel good code words for destroy America as formulated and intended.