For everything you do, most of which is behind the scenes and so quietly done that the operation of the site appears to run itself. But folks, JtC is the magician who makes that happen.

Also as one of the mods here, I can attest to the enormous patience and restraint JtC has. We are truly fortunate to have him as our Administrator.

Four years ago today was the official start of Caucus99%, but the idea went back years before that date. A number of us wanted to be a part of a site that was policy and action oriented rather than just for partisan politics. We went through a number of iterations including an email group, a Google group, and the hiring of an outside administrator to build us a site. None of those worked to our satisfaction. Then JtC stepped up and volunteered to build us a site. It was a tremendous amount of work for JtC on his own dime at the time. But what JtC came up with is exactly what we envisioned.

I am so grateful to be a part of this incredible community every day. I have learned so much from the wonderful essays that our members post here. Thank you to everyone who writes, comments, and supports Caucus99%.

on to the joint sometime in early '16 in a comment at the orange deadzone, registered around the purge.
They asked me to leave, you invited me in-and ya ain't Booted me yet. Think I'll hang until you do.

peace

thanks from the bottom of my heart for this site and all you do here JtC to keep it running and for not going insane when the meta gets too bad. I still remember the day when I got a kos mail inviting me to join. I thought, "cool, I am going where the cool kids are."

Yippee!

You do an awful lot behind scenes that we can't thank you enough for. The writers/community/participants here are top notch. All of you make this a happy home for all of us. Happy Anniversary everyone.

conversation within this community without it quickly morphing to name calling. Few places encourage deep thought. Thanks to all those who worked on creating this space in the universe and for welcoming those of us who found our way from other sites.

Great to be part of something smart, sharp and supportive. Once I found this place, have never gone back to the DKos. Hear enough from the wandering souls that still re-visit to know ain't missing a thing. Thanks all for keeping it classy.

I joined on the 5th of March 2016 and have felt right at home ever since. I was part of the exodus. I hadn't been at the other place very long, but it was plain to see that it wasn't as advertised. This place is one of those happy accidents where the people who run the place, the people who write the essays, the people who comment, and the people who lurk have some fundamental agreements that keep the peace even when the disagreements get a little warm. Thank you JtC and Joe for keeping the place running smoothly. It seems like it has always been here. I think we all do a good job.

and many more!

I first came here seeking sanctuary on June 1, 2016 after being purged from a place I had previously called home for almost 8 years. As as a stunned refugee, this place had an almost therapeutic effect on my battered sense of reality. Not only did we have informative content and experienced writers, but the feeling of comraderie was instantaneous. I suspect a part of that was due to the tumultuous times we were living in and the ratfuckery we were witnessing in real time, but I also know that the greater part of that was due to the smart, witty, and wonderful people here who respected each other's right to be heard.

Thank you so much for welcoming me here. Thank you so much for telling your stories. Thank you so much for believing that a place like this could exist, and putting your time and your passion into making it happen. Who knew that being Bojo'd from TOP would've led me to a place I now proudly call home?

Happy Anniversay fellow C99'ers!

Some of you will remember the "What's Happenin'" community diaries at TOP. Long before the Ides decree, pretty much just barely into Obama's second term, that community series of left-leaning folks was being periodically trolled by other kossacks of a more centrist mindset. DKos, like the Democratic Party establishment that blog had sold its soul to, was creating a virtual version of Trump's wall, only keeping out lefties instead of refugees. They weren't successful, as we all knew trolling when we saw it and could dish it right back, but joanneleon, who had created that diary series, saw the need to come up with a lifeboat for lefties, something less partisan, more issues-driven, outside the unwelcoming dKos boundaries. The Ides decree had not yet occurred, was more than two years away in fact, but it was clear that something like it would be coming sooner or later.

Joanne, who had had a hand in another ex-dKos blog I won't name, took up the challenge and was teaching herself how to set something up. There were some meetings of a few folks (joanne, joe shikspack, and a few others), including one where CStMS made the trek, and out of those conversations came the impetus and confidence to do something sooner rather than later. And some shifting of the generative leadership.

There were growing pains, and a few avatars of the lifeboat that have been enumerated upthread, before c99p came to be.

I think I have all this correct. As party to some of the early conversations, I was around to enjoy the lifeboat in I think all of the early versions of the group, but life duties may have caused me to miss some crucial details. And if this paragraph has too many Is, as if I want to take any credit, I don't, I didn't do this, I just witnessed some of it and wanted to make sure we honor the conception as well as the child. C99P is as strong as it is, has the shape it has, because of all the ideas and hiccups and input that went into it. And because of all of you who keep it what it is.

Heh. That's me. I was part of the great purge of those with principles from TOP. In my case, I didn't wait to get the swift boot, but saw what was happening and didn't let the door hit me on the way out.

What a refuge this place is! So happy to be here and only wish I could be here more - and read each and every word written.

So, Happy Birthday C99!

I am proud to say I was part of the Ides of March purge in 2016. I was not bojoed from TOP, but I was happy to find this place, since my line of thinking was way out of bounds with THEIR line of thinking. Thank goodness folks were putting the link in their comments or I may have never made it over.

I love this site. I contribute because I want to see it continue. The people here are awesome and we learn from each other every day - anyway, I learn from everyone everyday!

Thanks for everything you do, JtC and thanks to joe, gg, and the other founding members. You have given us a very safe space to be who we are.

I'm glad to be a part of this community. An open mind is a gift, and this community is open, accepting, and gifted. I appreciate all the work it took to create this platform, and enjoyed the stories of it's evolution. Thanks to everyone for their insights and information - it is an island of sanity.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to all caucusers! Thanks to you especially JtC for all the work you do making it work. And thanks to all the regular posters for all the great material, knowledge, and ideas. Y'all rock!

accepted me in this group. Reading how you all knew each other before this site was created, met, had a history together, are like a family, all of you being insiders, seasoned writers and researchers, having built sites and are music connaiseurs, just makes it so much more amazing that he and the site in its totality took me along, an outsider with no background that would be suitable to contribute something here.

So, all my thanks to all of you, but to JtC and Joe specifically to bear with me. I never was a blogger, just a reader (and a bad one too) and an odd isolated foreign person in the US, who had a lot isnide that wanted to come out. JtC let me talk, though I frustrated him sometimes when I constantly redacted my worst comments. I am no social media person. I stil boycott facebook and twitter. I came here because some folks didn't like me over there and vice versa I didn't like them either and it showed. The same can happen here as well, the difference is that it doesn't show over here in ways that would hurt. (at least I hope)

So, thank you JtC, for all you do and for including me in the 99 percent of people of the world. Each time I feel guilty of having made a silly comment or being too upfront and in your face, I tell myself, darn it, I am one of the millions in the 99 percent too. And then I try to buy myself out for my little sins like in church of the 99 percenters...Overlords have mercy with me.

Happy Anniversary!
Cheers!

than being online. Plus the Grind of the kids by myself.

Have been checking in on the site as always but not as much the past month. Busy, funk and other interests. But seeing this tonight had to pull up the reply box, to be with you all and to share recollections about the way here.

There were definite junctures when DK had begun becoming apparent to me that it was not really a progressive place. For years I had enjoyed and reveled in the expanse of edification offered, from historical essays to community interaction to inside politics. But after Occupy, during BLM and of course as the 2016 primary starting heating up with the obligatory horse race more than a year out I began to get a nagging and distinct feeling that it was just a centrist Democratic blog that towed the establishment line in every way.

During that time I had discovered the Evening Blues. Then I was gigging constantly and kept late hours, and that refuge of smart and interesting people gathered around Joe's always-excellent daily news roundup was such a delight to come home to late at night. Not only was everyone really politically astute and bright but it was music fans too. Just where I wanted to be.

It always had the feeling, on that massive, seemingly endless blog, to that akin of DK being a really big high school in which the top bloggers were mostly (not all) like the popular jocks and cheerleaders, while the EB were the way cooler kids with the best music, coolest hangout and intellect that burned, and without even having to say it reduced those poseurs to the lapdogs they really were. As with popular crowd in high school, the DK cheerleaders' opinions didn't age well at all. Each of you who put it together - joe, Tim and Johnny - had different styles interaction, writing and music, and it was always a gas hanging out and occasionally chiming in.

But what really lost me and found myself most indignant about, was the astonishing lack of support for #blacklivesmatter, especially from the haughty big black bloggers, who could recite history well, it seemed, but had not the compunction to get out in the streets and/or give more serious coverage to what I saw and felt firsthand was legitimate and inspiring revolt, just as Occupy was (and which seemed to morph into).

I was experiencing some really amazing things with #BLM, such as the stunning #MillionsMarchNYC, and also following the incredible news around the country of one uprising after another, and then coming on to the one blog I trusted first and...crickets. Progressive blog? My ass. It's so galling to me then to hear of them fraudulently playing the Identity Politics game. They make me sick. Also, having to repeatedly correct revisionist history about Occupy by the Neoliberal suckups who denigrated it or repeated lies about it was another telltale sign.

So when Bernie began blowing the doors off the establishment I was already primed for major stultification and their true colors to shine brightly. I said my peace in a few essays that were well-received and never looked back. I haven't ever gone back to that infernal, Pestilent Neoliberal Cesspool and don't miss it.

But during that time I had noticed the EB had been gone, and I was disoriented. Thank god for the occasional commenter pointing the way to the Liefboat. I think it was dkmich who responded to a comment wondering what had happened to the EB.

It was with great satisfaction and humility when trying to sign up in the spring of 2016 to be informed by JtC that an account had already been opened for me. I never looked back at TOP.

I have great feelings for all here. I still hope there will be some way for us to be able to get together in person at some point in the near future. And that I'll be able to contribute a little more again in the near future.

Thank you, thank you to the original instigators, and to the MODS, and to the awesome development team! (JtC must be a team, he does way too much to be just one guy, heh.)

Best wishes for our continued success!