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Readers!

 

My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

No matter. I am here, and here I intend to stay. If you like what I do and have not yet donated or subscribed, 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 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.

 

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Ontario cancels Starlink contract in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs

Cutting off your nose to spite your face: The Ontario government yesterday canceled a $100 million Starlink contract it had with SpaceX to provide internet service to remote areas, doing so in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to cancel the contract in February if U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods were imposed. He killed the deal in March when U.S. President Donald Trump moved ahead with tariffs. “It’s done, it’s gone,” Ford said at the time. “We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province … and our country.”

…Ford’s cancellation of the deal came as part of a suite of measures in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs. He pulled American booze off the shelves of LCBO stores in March and has said the U.S. booze ban will be kept in place until Trump removes his tariffs on Canada. Ford also banned American companies from bidding on $30 billion worth of procurement contracts the province awards each year. He also banned U.S. companies from bidding on contracts related to his $200-billion infrastructure plan to build highways, tunnels, transit, hospitals, and jails.

It appears the province had to pay SpaceX a penalty for canceling the contract, but the amount has not been revealed. The cancellation also leaves those rural areas stranded, as the government presently has no alternative service to offer.

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

  • geoffc

    I have been at my cottage in Ontario for a month now (Not even out of Central Ontario, the province is that big) and I rely on Starlink for Internet. Best we can get is ASDL that is barely 2 Megs down, 0.1 Meg up.

    Starlink is awesome. Weekends it is a bit slower as all the cottagers are home watching movies. But during the workweek performance is better than anything the local Bell can offer.

    Works in most weather though severe, heavy, pounding rain (usually only get moments of it) it may fail. But rarely more than 1-2 minutes. We have longer power outages.

    My understanding was they were going to use Starlink as long haul, so that for seriously isolated communities in the real north, having a Starlink dish, would allow the community to have phone and internet service.

    I am sure Premier Ford will simply go to the nearest competitor and use them instead. Oh wait, there isn’t any for this use case. Stupid childish behavior.

  • John

    As long as Canadians can still pay for internet should they want it, I don’t see a problem. Neither Ontario or Washington are buying me internet.

  • BillB

    This is so childish and by a supposed group of adults. The Canuks want the U.S. to support them by buying their goods but don’t mind charging high tariffs on U.S. goods. They are also allowing the Northern Border to be quite porous which is part of the equation. We have a saying in the military about doing something disgusting in your mess kit and the Canadians seem to be doing it in full force.

  • wayne

    geoffc–
    Great info.
    Throughout July, Starlink was offering me free equipment with a 12-month sign-up.

    Off thread– can you enlighten me on the status of all the wildfires going on in Canada? I’m in Michigan and we’ve been having a lot of air-quality issues recently, smells like pine and burnt sugar….

  • Phill O

    I am ashamed of our Canadian politicians actions right now.

    Not only Ford but Carney’s desire to recognize a Palestinians state at the UN, which funnels money to Hamas.

    We would be surprised to really know how much countries funnel money to terrorists through back door channels.

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