I agree we are in crazytime, venting anger, angst, frustration, betrayal----how Shakespearian!

I also see how significant changes to this site would cause anger, angst, frustration and betrayal.

So I, as others, are unwilling to let this little gem of discourse and sunshine and music fail, or morph into Ad City. I get Sat. delivery of Ad City in my postal box.

Now I have Post-concussion syndrome, severe drought, initiating a $200K lawsuit for fraud. It's overwhelming me. --what IS the definition of whelm?

I never contributed anything, but that's because I have nothing to contribute. I've been on the edge of survival for a long time, and I budget my money very carefully. I get 730 a month from social security, and they take 675 of that for my rent at the assisted living facility. I'm going to need a new chair soon and I can't afford it.

The guy who lives next to me has a wheelchair with an aging battery. The battery is so old now that it hardly lasts any period of time at all between recharges before he is stranded. A new battery would cost a hundred dollars and he can't afford it. Literally ever.

They fix my meals, but the food they serve here isn't that great, and I feel pressured to buy fresh food and cut down on salt, or I face side effects from medication.

I wish I could have helped more.

Necessary to be egalitarian on this topic. Some can afford nothing but contribute wonderful content. It's all of a piece.

I was actually thinking about this yesterday when JtC's announcement came through.

One of the things that I learned this year from the Sanders campaign was just how much damn money it takes to run a national campaign in this country. This is my biggest problem with the Greens (who I am supporting) - they are under the delusion that we can all network, do a group hug and the problem will magically vanish. No, the problem is you need to get out of the matching funds ghetto and kick some ass. But it's a chicken and egg problem: How do you raise money without exposure, and how do you get exposure without money? And my "money" I mean "resources to provide a livelihood for the full time work required." I am heartened that they are manipulating the media now to get exposure - and Bernie certainly helped set this up - but it's going to take a lot of labour to make something of the moment, and they need to set up the infrastructure to continue through non-election years.

Our opponents are under no such delusion. They have super-PACs, think tanks, tax-exempt foundations and they know how to get free media coverage. They can pay armies of shills to pollute social media. And quite frankly, their supporters make more than most and therefore can give more. Here is the breakdown as of June 30th of reportable (> $250) contributions to the current candidates (and Bernie for context):

Bernie and Jill have much smaller average contributions that the corporate candidates.

JtC is in the same bind. He has to do this full time, and full time means salary. So am I - I have a job, two teenagers and failing parents, so I can't really work on the site. Heck, I'd like to find the time to go to the Greens CNN party next Wednesday!

News reporting is similarly constrained: Here is a John Oliver piece on how local papers are unable to pay reporters to cover city hall any more:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq2_wSsDwkQ]

This is why I subscribe to the New York Times, buy books by world class reporters like Naomi Klein and have a monthly contribution to this site: I want to pay to have the news investigated by people who can give it their full attention. I'm not happy with the NYT these days, but they do in fact pay their reporters - even if they twist that reporting editorially.

So I don't know what the solution is, but we have been suckered over the last 20 years into thinking that politics and news are free. We went along with it because our wages were stagnant, but we have been played.

to make this work, not merely for ourselves, but for Johnny, and it is not only not working for him, it is sadly in arrears in that respect.

Jerry once said:

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.

But that was in an entirely different context. In this case, it is a privilege and honor to get to do it, to be called upon to do it, because not a whole lot of folks have the opportunity to bask in this site's wonderfulness or the corresponding obligation to try to make it work, not just for ourselves, but for Johnny, so we need to make that a larger focus, just as you have just done here.

Thanks again.

sporadic with donations and occasionally go off the rails and cause JtC headaches and grief. I cleared out my do gooder monthly automatic donations at the bank. They were not doing much good but instead were lobbying or some other nonsense. If there was someway other then paypal to directly contribute monthly I would gladly contribute the 50$ a month that has been coming out of my bank account for years. Could we make it easier to subscribe auromatically monthly without involving pay pal. I no longer donate to pols or Act Blue as I think the politics are just a con and a useless money suck.

Could someone here take this off JtC's head and help set up the financial end so the there was a steady stream instead of sporadic donations? If 500 people gave monthly at 25$ according to my faulty math it would come to 25,000$ a year. Not Johnny's required salary but a base to count on. Those who cannot do this could contribute 5.00$ a month. Or make contributions when they had the extra bucks.

Go Fund Me seems like a good idea. A kick start not a final solution. We know a lot of musicians and artists who have raised enough to get their music recorded and pressed on vinyl. I don't like ads but if that's what it came too I think it would be worth it to keep afloat. I do not want anything to do with Amazon or google. They are the monkey's paw no sence in selling your site to the devils.

Isn't there an internet ad placement vehicle that's liberal? I see ad's on common dreams and truthdig that are not offensive or don't tell you how to get rid of your wrinkles or refi nance your mortgage If we had a base of monthly subscribers and some ads and a yearly or twice a year pledge drive or auction that was organized and consistent I think there is no reason we could not come up with 40, 000 a year. I would like us to hire JtC.

To JtC. while I understand this is your baby and a fine baby it is, I do think you need help. Too much time even if your being paid is just not going to work for you or your family or your health. Perhaps you could find trustworthy people to help on the front end? I also think as in all things endless growth is not a good idea. I don't tweet and have no interest in a site that includes fb or twitter. A tower of Babylon. It would definitely turn this place into a partisan, pol central madhouse and change it's nature to something else entirely. I do face book but it is a whole different beast as far as politics goes. It's a stream of endless 'drivel' as one of my friends calls it.

We own our own business and cash flow is a bitch. If you grow to fast you can't handle the work as you need to hire another person but in order to pay them you lose some of your inconsistant income. I cannot thank you enough as I've been blogging for 12 years and cc99% is by far the best experience I've had. It's the best community on line.

Just my 2 cents on this wall you've hit. I love this site. I love blogging non-partisan where I can read and write about something other than us vs. them and the poltic's of persona. I love the community that's building. I think we could pull this off. It's doable. I trust and believe in JtC's vision of a site that's not partisan or a platform for electoral politics. I will talk to my CU about setting up automated payments and in the short term send you a donation.

Auto debit from my checking account works best, but if I need to send checks, I can. Where do I start?

First thing every time I used to get on the computer, I'd go to DailyKos & Rachel & Chris & Lawrence & Ed... so many once-great ones that now just make me sad. For a while now my new go-to sites have been c99%, truthout & commondreams, in that order. I really don't want to lose this site.