Sunday Open Thread 04-12-15
Caucus99percent site history and site meta. Please read this all the way through, folks, especially the end, it's important for the future of this site.
Good morning 99percenters!
First up, a little site meta. The autoplay problem with the Video button in the editor toolbar has been corrected, you can now embed videos easily and quickly by clicking the "Insert Video" button and enter the video url in the top box, select "OK" and you're done, give it a try. It also works with many different sources (Youtube, Vimeo, etc.). When I get some time I'll write a FAQ explaining all the various functions of the toolbar. Most of the buttons work by simply highlighting the text that you want wrapped with HTML code and then selecting the appropriate button in the toolbar, it will automatically wrap the text. It's very easy once you get used to it. Open a diary and just play with the buttons and then just cancel the diary or leave the page, that's the best way to learn what each button does.
Still haven't been able to fix the bug in the tags field. You may have noticed the Ajax error when filling it out. I've been wrestling with that monster for a while now and I'm not sure, from what I've read, that it is correctable. Drupal is going to be wheeling out a totally revamped version 8 (we use v.7) and the way I understand it, it's a very common problem that's pretty much been forgone since it will be corrected in v.8 and then backported to v.7. so I think we'll just have to live with it until then, although I will keep trying to find the bug. The tags field was originally mandatory to fill out but after we started getting the Ajax errors, it was made to be optional rather than disable it totally. If you go slow and let the little blue spinning wheel stop spinning, you can fill it out. Or do like I do and type as fast as you can and then close the error message and do it all over again. Sometimes it works fine like it did just now when I filled it out for this diary (it could be that it's a browser issue). I know it's a pain but it is what it is, I don't have Kos' budget or a team of code monkeys to dig into it.
All feeds to the Aggregator have been disabled except the World News feeds and I've noticed a definite improvement in the site performance.
Now for some c99p history. This site has been live for a little over 3 months, since Jan. 7 to be exact. At the moment we have 75 members. This site was built with Drupal, an open source software package that can be downloaded for free. It is a widely used CMS (Content Management System) with many sites large and small using it across the web.
Last winter I decided I would teach myself the Drupal system and build a site. I created a local developmental environment to learn the program. What that means is I downloaded and installed a bundled package of software onto my personal computer to learn from rather than do it all on an actual web hosting account. The bundled software package included the Drupal program, an Apache server program and a MySql data base program, everything that's needed to run a Drupal site. It took a couple of days to install, troubleshoot and get it up and running. It then took a couple of weeks of pretty intensive study to learn the ins and outs of building an actual site or blogsite to be more accurate. There were many hours of trial and error, head-to-desk contact and saying the hell with it and almost giving up a couple of times, but I muddled through it and eventually figured it out.
After getting an operable site up and running on my personal computer, the time came to upload all of it to a web server and go live with it. That took about another two weeks as there were many new hurdles to jump over, bugs to work out and several hours on the phone with the web host. Finally it all clicked and came together and it was time to invite some folks in to do some beta testing. It took a few days to get it operable enough to actually function as a blog. Some of you will remember those beta testing days. Fast forward three months and here we all are.
An estimate was obtained last fall to build a caucus blogsite and if I recall correctly it came in a little over $4,500.00. After going through the rigmarole involved to build this one, I have to say that that is reasonable. What did I charge to build this site? Well the software cost $00.00, my labor came in at $00.00 and the web hosting cost under $100.00, paid for by a few generous members. Why did I do all of this for nothing?
I'm a staunch leftie that believes firmly in the cause. I admittedly am not much of a writer, so this was my way of doing my part for the cause (more about the cause in a bit). I honestly get a kick out of seeing folks enjoy this site. Seeing that makes it all worth while for me. My work is seasonal, that's why I pushed so hard over the winter months to get this place up and running, I have a lot of spare time in the winter and I truly enjoy learning technical computer stuff, everything I know tech-wise is self taught, so taking a month or so to get this built gave me something to do. Even though it was hectic at times, I enjoyed it. Sometimes I pinch myself over it's initial success, I had my doubts during the building process but pushed on none the less.
Whose site is this? It's your site. I built it and maintain it for free, but it's your site, it's our site. You guys and gals make it what it is, I'm just the nuts and bolts guy. We're going to need this place in the coming months and I hope it keeps growing. The trick to growing a blogsite is content, content, content. That's where you guys and gals come in, I supply the platform and you supply the content, for the cause, and so far it seems to be working rather well and I thank you all for that.
Now about that "cause" thing. Now that it's built and operable, where do we want to go with this site? How do we want to use it? What are it's goals? And most importantly: How do we use this site to affect the upcoming election? Since this is your site, our site, I'll open the floor for suggestions. Thank you all, you are great folks.
Oh, yeah, this is also an open thread, so talk the talk.
Comments
Good for you.
We use pre-rolled by pacified java for $30 a month (2 sites) and have our own quirks.
It's interesting living outside the gates, but you get used to it. I don't dwell in the past, this is the new normal and the best thing we can do is support each other.
Bored yet? September 12, 2007 and July 4, 2010. If you want to stop war and stuff you have to sing loud, and long. I'm not tired, or proud, and we'll just wait until it comes around on the guitar again.
4 part harmony, and feeling.
You can get anything you want, just be careful what it is.
Thanks ek...
when we first went live the tags and Ajax played fine together. Then several weeks ago a Drupal core security update came out that was called "high priority", so I installed the update which involved deleting all the core files from the server and uploading a whole new system. I wanted to put off doing the update because bugs are well known to happen after core updates, but the update patched a serous security hole so I followed through. It was after the update the autocomplete function of the tagging system started getting flaky. There were several other issues (bugs) that popped up also that I was able to work out but the Ajax error is elusive. Damn updates, can't live with them and can't live without them.
It was a typical case of American blind justice
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
First of all, thanks for all of the free work on our behalf.
I love the fact that everyone gets to participate. Morning open thread is such a non-threatening way to make a contribution - not that the bar hasn't been set plenty high by those contributing. I, too, wish I was a better writer. I start to write something, and then I think, meh! Who cares and what"s the point?
Goals for the site? I am anxious to hear everyone's ideas. Because it is new and bottom up operated (so to speak), it really has an opportunity to be original - at least compared to what I am used to. I don't know whether or not "we" or anybody else can impact the election, but I do know this place will impact me. If I couldn't escape from the crazy that is DailyKos, I would probably just walk away from all of it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Alternate candidates?
One idea I've had is to contact the alternate candidates that will be running to see if they will address us here about their platforms.
Local
We need to start with congressional districts, or lower.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
one thing
One thing I have learned from Obama is that there is often a difference between campaign promises and what follows.
So I would suggest that we look at the background of candidates to try to figure out if they will hold to a position, even under pressure.
Don't fight the stream - Tyr Anasazi
Agreed...
thank you GideonAB.
Follow the money
We need more transparency in campaign funding!
Repeal Citizens United. Who were the fucking citizens?
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
one more thing
I think encouraging good candidates is very important.
A lot of online discussion can go on without any perceivable impact on the wider world
Don't fight the stream - Tyr Anasazi
Encouragement take $peech
It is all about the election cycle and who pays.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Excellent idea-especially nat'nl level candidates like Stein. NT
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Good Morning, JtC
I love to read that it was possible to build this site basically like in the old times, when people ran their own Apache webserver on their home computer with some free software. I thought these days that wouldn't be possible anymore. Deep kudos for your work. I kind of don't like to see your work going at the income level of zero dollars. ...
I always be amazed that some of you seem to put a lot of time and knowledge in continuously producing content for a site like this one and dailykos. It makes me feel guilty to then come in and use the site just for reading and commenting with something that usually is important just to me, but certainly not for the audience in general.
It would be nice to hear what joe shikspack has in mind for this site or am I wrong in the assumption that he was interested in this site to be built for a certain purpose, other than having a refuge place to go to voice disagreement with something that happens over at the gos?
As well it would be nice to understand how this site is "financed" on the long run and being "free for all" to do "whatever they want here" kind of social gathering point. Is that what you want it to be? I would say I don't need something like that, though it is somewhat nice to communicate freely and humanely with each other.
Or how it would be a site to help to build a "movement". Movement for which goal? Will it be a place to "support a certain candidate for Presidency"? A place to think about Third party support? A place to work for the Demcoratic Party as it is right now and just try to push them to the "left"?
For example I could imagine (in order to never have to deal with ads), to pay for posting here just comments, more or less as "pemalty" to not do more than commenting without providing much in form of serious diairies, you have already seen here posted by serious writers. That "income" could be used to "pay" the real writers for pieces of in depth analytical diaries. Writing and research is work. Commenting and socializing is fun. The first imo should be rewarded and the latter should help to do so.
All in all, I hope this site would not be afraid of the thought that "less is more" and that what you have posted here would be easily to retrieve.
Now forget about all of it. You already know I am in the "paying for commenting nonsence" contingent and not in the "movers and shakers and serious content providers".
Morning mimi...
thanks for your input. There is no income involved with this site. There are no ads nor is there any request for donations. That's OK with me and I'd like to keep it that way. The big job was getting it built and functioning, from there on the every day maintenance is not that labor intensive and if the site grows to the point where i can no longer handle it alone, I'll ask for some admin help. I think the fact that there is no singular blogger lording over the site and as dkmich said, it is bottom up based rather than top down is a big part of it's uniqueness and draw. And I also think keeping it free to the members is an important factor, although sometime this fall the hosting fees will be due and I will ask for one time small donations from the members to cover the costs. The first year of service was not quite $90.00, it's very reasonable. It could conceivably cost more if the site grows much larger than it is now and uses more bandwidth, but right now we are nowhere near that point.
Since this is "our" site I'm all in for hearing the ideas from our members. The world is in a global crisis, the planet is burning, income inequality grows larger, the too big to fail banks grow larger, the never ending wars go on and our politicians fiddle like Nero as it burns down. What as a site can we do to change that. I know that's a huge question but needs to be asked anyway.
I had no idea the site's maintenance is so affordable
wow. All the honor to your work. No, I don't want overlords either. Just some answers to the question you post: "What as a site can we do to change "all of it".
I was a little encouraged yesterday when the film director of James Spirone of the documentary "Silenced" (Story of the Whistleblowers Drake, Kiriakou, Radack) responded in a Q&A session of the film screening to several people in the audience, who emphasized the necessity of building a large movement, that it is his experience that often a small group of very dedicated people emphasizing to right a wrong can be very successful.
It made me a bit hopeful to hear this from someone who has done terrific work to document the wrongs and the righting of the wrongs by whistleblowers with his films. I realized that the English version of the film for example was not kept on youtube, nor in the archives of the German TV site Arte. So, I could imagine that some videos might have "limited" access and not be available to the US audience in times, when the foreign versions are available overseas, but not in the US. I could for example imagine that this site would be able to provide that access, if such videos would be posted and archived here.
Hey man
I am a trained code monkey. I have my hands full, at the moment, but would be glad to lend a helping hand.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
It's all...
PHP, CSS and HTML.
Code is code
Once you understand how things work and fit together you can code.
I was doing assembler, C, C++, because of the nature of the embedded controls. Then managing projects on distributed systems. Particularly data mining and operating efficiency.
Once C99 has enough of a voice, I fully expect some mischief from opposing forces. Keep good backups, somebody will hack one day. The real question is whether it will be conservative activism or government dark arts.
Ref: Mimi's Open Thread - the age of interconnectivity makes us easier to identify and monitor. Also easy to silence and severe our communications channels.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
I'm well aware of...
the security aspects, we get probed all day every day and there is no such thing as code that can't be cracked and Drupal is as vulnerable as any. Right now, I'm the security choke point, individual accounts can easily be hacked with brute force programs but it's the admin account, the no.1 account that must be compromised to do real harm to the site. I take extraordinary measures to thwart that threat. Computer security is one of my hobbies. I back up the file system and the db regularly.
plans
I wonder if you need plans to counter cyber attacks. These days it can be very easy for people to DDOS sites.
The Krebs on Security blog has this issue and has a service provider that works to mitigate attacks when they arise
Don't fight the stream - Tyr Anasazi
We are...
pretty much under everyone's radar so far but that could change. By security provider you probably mean cloudflare.com?
Code Monkey don`t like Probes
This is my Code Monkey & he does not like probes.
I`m already against the next war
Well I'll be a monkey's uncle...
Hey Knuck, glad to see you're getting the hang of the place. You can also upload images right from your hard drive here too.
Uncle
Yes, I`m just wetting my toes.
The water is great by the way.
I`m already against the next war
Make yourself...
at home old buddy, mi casa su casa.
Hey
It's the next VP of the United States. Dorky Duck! Doesn't that give you nightmares?
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
With sincere interest and regard, what do you need?
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
ach, just to shut up, I guess ...
what I meant to say with "I don't need something like that" is that dailykos has a huge amount of diaries and commenting surrounding the community part of that site. People said they came for the politics and stood at the site for the community. I felt that the official politics of that site is in the hands of a group of writers (including the staff writers) and is sort of getting separated more and more from the rest of writers, who are more community oriented and write whatever they feel to write about and communicate among each others in groups and diaries. I realized that those diaries and comments distracted me a lot to focus on the political diaries. My own bad. But I long for a more political oriented site.
No offense meant.
And they dog pile you if you don't want HRC
I think all the national politicians, most state politicians and most local politicians are products of the machine. A healthy site criticizes them all regardless of affiliation. It is the people versus politicians/oligarachs/MIC/corporations, not D versus R!
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
No, thank you.
I absolutely agree with your observation. Cliques would explain why they can gush on and on about how much they mean to each other and what a great community they are while simultaneously joining in and cheering on mob bullying. I don't want to be like dailykos either. I also agree that the front page is disconnected. It wasn't always, but it most certainly is now. The only thing dk offers to me is its size....
As I said, we are free to make this blog what we will, and I would like it to be everything dailykos isn't: leftist with no party affiliation or loyalties and open to all conversation including the ones dkos bans. Notice I said conversations. Converse is something else that dkos doesn't do well. In the day, OpenLeft was so much better than dailykos
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Great comment, dk!
We have only one rule here and that is DBAD. Otherwise everyone should feel free to disagree aggreeably.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Awesome job, Johnny.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7FGbhpr2pg]
Thanks cw...
I wish all wingnuts were like you, you're a good egg, my friend.
*2
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Is the cause related to the name of the blog?
I don't know the background on how that was chosen as the name. It sounds like it's related to the theme
of the Occupy movement, which was basically that we don't live in a democracy. The politicians and the system
that they operate within serve and represent the rich and very rich, the "1%", while the rest of us are SOL.
The Princeton study and many other documents have proven that, not that we can't see it with our own eyes.
Many on here seem to be indicating they will vote third party in the next election. So perhaps they have third
party goals in mind? Or some might want to still try to sway the democratic party slowly to the left. That would
fit in with the ties to Daily Kos.
Morning Al...
I had nothing to do with the name of the site and honestly wish it was called something else. SouthernLiberalinMD (Can'tStoptheSignal) was the originator of the concept that eventually lead to the creation of this site . At the time of procuring the web space for a site (at first it was a phpBB forum), she was considered the driving force behind it all, so the donated funds were sent to her and she applied for the domain name and the caucus99percent name was her creation. The domain name can be changed but it would lead to mass confusion for the members, so for now it is what it is.
To me the democratic party is a lost cause, it's part of the problem if not THE problem. I would argue that swaying the democratic party to the left is the goal of DK. Most seem just fine with where it is right now.
Domain name - Humorous Story
Be careful to renew the domain name on time.
I worked for a group that rolled its own web site, instead of using the corporate administrator. The site was just fine and was linked by customers and other corporate web sites. There was a decent amount of traffic. They forgot to renew the domain name, and an Internet parasite, noticing the traffic, grabbed the domain name. One day, the site changed from a site about industrial controls and engineering, to a porn site.
Our VP had to come clean and report to the mother ship so that other corporate entities could delink. Watching from below, it was funny as hell.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
That's a common occurance...
and the domain sellers have been known to do that do that themselves. If you ever use a web service to see if a domain name is already being used or not, you better be prepared to buy it right then because if you don't the second time you check chances are you'll find it gone. The domain sellers grab it and then up the price, just in case you come back the second time to purchase it.
what kind of name would you have rather seen
for this site?
Oh I don't know mimi...
I'd have to give it some serious though and what put the question to the membership. TheCause might have been a good one or something similar.
If we want to change it, now is the time.
Businesses usually keep both domains pointed at the address for quite awhile so that everyone gets a chance to catch up. If you want to change it, now is the time, and I would be happy to support it. I have no better suggestion, so somebody else would have to come up with the name. If nobody has a burning desire for something else, maybe it isn't worth the bother.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
How about...
DailyCause? Ok, Ok, I know, I'll go stand in the corner now. In all seriousness though, I can live with caucus99percent, I guess. The 99percent is OK, it's the caucus part that I have a problem with, but I'm not sure if it's that big of an issue to deal with now. Although if we were to change it , you are right, now would be better than waiting until later when we have more members.
How about
... left populist vault (depository) ... or something in that direction...
just popped up in my mind. I have always difficulties with the possibility that the expression "populist" could represent right wing populists (ie imo populists that don't respect equal rights for all). So if it's 99percent I guess that would mean it's populist, but I fear rw populists. I guess that's my European heritage. So, it may not be something that means anything to you.
lol - I love DailyCause.
You are so clever.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
then there is a meaning in that 'Cause' part
I didn't get yet. Oh wait, may be I do now, coming to think about it.
lol
How about this?
Cause99Percent?
You get your "Cause" part in there, we keep the "99Percent" part, and visually Cause looks very much like Caucus so any change will be relatively seamless.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I love the wit of it, but somehow
I wished we wouldn't have a daily cause from dailykos to write about on DailyCause ...
It reminds me a bit of a co-dependency tendency.
I agree
I do not want anything that remotely sounds like Daily kos. It makes it appear that we are the anti-kos.
No, we are independent of them or anyone else that is tied to party politics. We are our own unique group that is promoting ways to transform our governmental systems to work for the 99%.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
yes
I like "thecause.com". caucus99 is okay but suggests a link to Occupy. As the site is distinct from that (though perhaps with some of the same goals), it would be a good idea to have a distinct title.
I think now might be a good time to change it over.
Once the site gets too large, people will insist on it staying the same and that inertia can be hard to fight
Don't fight the stream - Tyr Anasazi
Morning Al
My personal view on politics had degenerated to the point that I am firmly convinced we aren't going to fix anything until we can hurt them. So if we have no money, the only club we have is our votes. If the left would organize ala Norquist and agree to take Democrats out in the general elections when we have Republican help, I think we would eventually get their attention and some cooperation. Yeah, yah, having the GOP in charge of everything will hurt us as much as it hurts them, but no pain, no gain - and at least nobody is getting clubbed and sprayed in the streets.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Unfortunately
I think you are half right. They are working on making our votes meaningless also. I think radical action and a massive movement is going to be required.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Targeted actions can be effective.
Look at what AIPAC does.
Hunt like wolves
AIPAC has coordinated collaborators. We need friends like Occupy, Anonymous, Sierra Club, ...
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Can I abuse this thread to ask for support of a diary on gos?
I think there is an interesting diary "Reasonable" Discrimination and an 1886 SCOTUS Decision" by a Maryland kossack. And some recs would help to get it more eyes.
Thanks.
Thanks for the tip...
Very thoughtful diary, well-written. It could use more eyes and recs. Would support Mimi's request to make the trip.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Thank you for doing this JtC
Your work in administering this site has made it one of the most seamless start ups that I have ever been associated with. At a cost of only about $100 per year or so, I think that if we are given a heads up as to when we need to renew, there probably will be no problems in securing the money necessary to sustain this site. In fact, I think that will be the least of our problems going forward.
Content is an issue as many of us are not comfortable yet in writing about anything, let alone weighty issues. That is why the morning open thread is so important. It provides an opportunity for participants here to write about anything and get their feet wet, so to speak. With morning open thread, the content does not need to be weighty either although we have had a significant number of morning open threads that were very issue oriented. I would encourage folks here to try doing a morning open thread at least every once in a while. Here is an idea. Perhaps, we should have one day each week in which the morning open thread was rotating with a different person volunteering each week to write it, so that a person is not locked in for every week. Sort of like a wild card in which the commitment was for that one time only.Hopefully that might help folks feel more comfortable in participating.
I would like to see this site focus on educating ourselves about various alternatives in the form of not only individual politicians, but also movements that are looking to mitigate and overcome the political, economic, and/or environmental destruction that we are seeing. Having historic background and analysis of how we have gotten to where we are now is also very important. For example, until several years ago, I had heard of but did not fully understand PNAC and how it came about, but obviously it is driving our wars in the Middle East. Once we are armed with the knowledge of potential solutions (yes, I am still an optimist), then we will be better equipped to structure our activism, be it at the local, state, or national levels. Just my $.02 worth for what that is worth.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thanks gulfgal...
I agree with all you say, especially your last paragraph. I hate to say it but the model that should be followed is the Tea Party, look at how much power they wield for a nominal movement. And also the ground up movement the Republicans have undertaken, they are ruling the nation from the various Governors seats. The hard part will be to find a billionaire or two to finance the grass roots building of a movement, if the left were to follow that model.
not sure
that the Tea Party is that much of a model, since some of the problems (like baiiling out the banks) are likely to continue under Republicans as much as Democrats
Don't fight the stream - Tyr Anasazi
Goodness no...
I don't mean that. Their strength seems to be holding their politicians feet to the fire by threats of primaries.
I am not an activist. I don't know much about any of it.
Are there leftist groups that are as fed up with a red Democratic Party as we are as voters? If yes, are they trying to join forces with other like-minded people so as to develop a critical mass? If we can't hurt them - red or blue - we can't influence them. All I ever hear about is the veal pen, aka dailykos.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Actually, I was not even thinking of political activist groups
As some examples, I was thinking in terms of groups that are working to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, such as the Transition Movement, which are focused upon local solutions to global issues. Groups or even individuals who are working to promote alternate sources of energy. Groups promoting local foods etc. Groups that are looking out for the under represented like the Moral Movement. These are examples of what I was thinking.
Quite honestly, I do not have the background or expertise to speak as to which groups have value, but I do think we need to be looking outside the current political constructs to push for changes that will benefit mankind. Once part of the political system, any group becomes automatically homogenized. This is why I am a strong believer in social movements outside politics.
What I would like to see is how we can learn about the best ideas of these groups and try to figure out how we can harness ideas to promote them. To be honest, it is not an idea I have totally fleshed out, but IMHO, our only real hopes for change will come from outside organized politics.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
afternoon jtc and everybody...
first off, thanks jtc for all of your work. i am constantly amazed at what you've been able to create here starting from scratch.
i've been kicking around for a couple of years looking to start a website, but i realized at the outset that if i tried to do what johnny has been doing, i'd fall into a bottomless pit of technical work and never really have time to write. for the past couple of years i've been putting together the evening blues series, which along with the usual stuff like working and putting food on my family has really eaten into my time to write the longer form, researched articles that i used to write more often. that last bit is not a complaint, it's just how it is. i don't necessarily value the one kind of writing more than the other, both are needed.
so, anyway, a lot of what i've been looking for in a website is here. there is a community, there are good writers contributing work and now we just need to put some flesh (content) on the bones of the site and perhaps organize it in a way that is more accessible for folks who are interested in a given topic.
i like what we have here as a community page, it's a nice forum for us to discuss things and inform each other. i'd like to see us put forward a kind of front page (i'm just going to call it that for now for lack of a better term) that informs the larger web world and puts forward our ideas, opinions, petitions and demands. i'd like the front page to be a place for our own work and a place where we can solicit content from people whose work we find interesting, but who may not be available to be engaged members of this community. i'd like to see our front page have an impact on the larger social and political conversation as a member of the alternative media. i'd like our community page to grow and collect people who are aligned with us politically and one day grow to a scale where it becomes not only a platform for discussion, but a platform for activist networking and actions.
oh, and maybe we could start a political party of our own. i have an idea that i'm working on, more about that at another time.
Agreed
Here and EB's, plus my playlists are 90% of my Internet time. I think the EBs kept me out of a deep dark hole. It is good to know there are other kindred spirits out there. Thank Joe! Thanks Johnny!
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
that would be very good ...
Thanks for weighing in Joe...
the site is all set up for a front page and that concept can easily be implemented. I thought it best as a burgeoning site to have all posts published to the front page, to encourage writing and I didn't want to be the arbiter of who gets published on the front page and who doesn't. As we gain more material I would very much like to have a featured front page. I think the bottom line to success for this site is great writing, and then to disseminate that writing throughout the web.
Idea JtC
don't change the address, just lose the caucus in the blog name at the top of the page. Afterall, lots of people and things have "nick names".
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Joe...
This is excellent:
I want us to have a further discussion about your ideas.
Agree with Joe that a
separate community forum and blog post page (or front page, whatever) might be a good idea, eventually.
For me, it truly doesn't matter--the informality is what I most enjoy! (Plus I just got further restricted on posting this past week.)
However, in order to entice some of the "very serious" diarists at DKos--who may not particularly be available to engage here on a conversational level, but who are seeking venues to post their diaries--would a separate blog post page do the trick? Dunno. Maybe someone (who knows them) can ask a couple of them for input. (Of course, I would include Joe in that category. ;-D)
**********
Regarding the cause or "purpose"--for me, it will be to cover the policy proposals (past and present) of the corporatist Dems, including the DLCers, No Labelers, New Dems, etc.--whether it be FSC, O'Malley, Chafee, etc.
It is truly amazing--I didn't discover until about a year ago that we had a change in the Consumer Price Index during the WJC Administration--costing us just a little less of a cut than PBO was proposing with his "Chained (Superlative) CPI" proposal.
(We went to geometric mean formula for indexing CPI--from a Pure to a Modified CPI.)
And bear in mind, our current Dem Prez has been pushing to reduce this formula by another 0.3 percentage points by "chaining" the formula.
Whew!
UL
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
David Mizner has a great Hillary diary up at dkos.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/12/1376991/-The-Guide-To-Criticizi...
I invited him to post it here. Paul Rosenberg, David and I had much in common at OpenLeft. I still have contact with Paul on Twitter, and I would love it if David joined us here. Matt Stoller is another favorite of mine, but I didn't have much contact with him.
I think David's diary is worth a trip and a recommend.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Typical comments section
I can't waste time slap fighting with kool-aid drinkers. HRC could be the catalyst to kos becoming a cat video site.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Thanks dk...
for inviting David. Great writing is going to be the key to this site making a difference.
I hope David shows up.
I love his willingness to poke shit. He was good at it at OpenLeft too. Are you familiar with it? OL was generally small, left, cerebral, and with few trolls. Bowers was the least leftist guy at the place. I tipped and rec'd the Hillary diary, but I didn't engage. As tim said, no point.
I like Joe's suggestion about a front page and a community page. I don't like sorting into topics. It will require more content to not look empty, and I'm not a fan of silos when tags can do the same thing. The problem is chicken/egg. Without an audience, it is hard to get writers, and without writers, it is hard to get an audience. I think we should enjoy and watch the place evolve. With so many good people around and an open door, I can't wait to see what it turns into.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
i used to...
visit OpenLeft occasionally and have always enjoyed David's work. Drupal by default is set up for a front page, it would only take a few mouse clicks to implement, but I don't see the point right now but hopefully we get there soon. You are absolutely right, great writers want eye balls, and to get eyeballs you need great writing.
I keep coming back here for sanity
that other place...it's like they want to lose. There's a diary up now asking "why should I vote FOR Hillary?" and the answers are sooooo depressing. Some lowlights include "Ted Cruz", "figure it out yourself", "the Supreme Court". The more substantive responses (and there are only a few) are "she'll continue Obama's policies".
It. has. started.
and. it. will. get. worse. Period!
Thank you JtC....
for all your continuing work and again congrats for getting '99' off the ground and running; your membership list thus far includes many of the writers I either follow or look for on other sites.
No specific recommendations come to mind this afternoon; but I trust that with all the talent you have attracted, this site will evolve in good ways yet to be determined.
Keep on Trucking.
Thank you...
my friend and may catching "Big One" be in your future.
Hey, JtC! Thanks for posting this.
Since I've only been active here for about a week, I feel a little strange contributing to this thread, but you asked and I have opinions. LOL.
First, thanks so much for all the work you've done to get this site up and running. I really love it and think the potential for c99p is extraordinary. We could really do some good work here, if given half a chance. Thank you for giving us a safe space, and for inviting us to participate in how the site is run and what the end goals are. That is exceeding kind of you, for real.
I'm in agreement with several of the folks upthread that perhaps we should go third party, or start our own party altogether. I have no idea how any of that would work, of course, but I now firmly believe that the Democratic Party is a fucking sinking ship. The goddamned platform is a joke. It's all about the wealthy donors and the corporate interests, and Wall Street is so embedded that I honestly don't see how Democrats can go back to being the party of the poor, minorities, women, LGBT, etc. It's just not going to happen. The Democratic Party uses social issues as a front to gain money and power. Then, they get in office and emulate Richard Effing Nixon and wonder why the base is so pissed off and so many voters are apathetic. They do nothing to gain public trust, because they consistently break that trust with their horrid actions and atrocious voting records.
I spent years, YEARS!, of my life trying to pretzelize the dichotomy between what they say and what they do. Even as late as last week, I was still trying to do that, still plugging away, still hoping against hope ...
And then, like mimi so eloquently wrote a few days ago, the diaries from prae, BBB, and Armando truly broke something inside of me. I cannot take this bullshit one. minute. longer. I am not a racist for disliking Barack Obama's policies, and I am not a sexist for disliking Hillary Clinton's policies. I am sick of having to defend myself, and I am sick of people going after me and using my focus on policy as a cudgel to say some mean ass, awful crap.
So I refuse to participate in Daily Kos any longer. I will continue to lurk, I'm sure, but I won't be tipping or rec'ing a single goddamned thing. kos and the HRC supporters can suck it. It's no longer a progressive website; it's a status quo website.
Content is very important to c99p, going forward, I think. That's what could get us on the map, eventually, and you guys have attracted some big names and good writers from Dkos, which is awesome! (OPOL is here! Yay!) I think maybe the people who want to write should just start posting some decent content, with the intention of always moving leftward, and then we could establish a way forward out of that? joe shikspack has done a fantastic job with the Evening Blues, and it has me thinking that maybe we should have other regular content-based series.
I'd love to write a series about feminist issues, and another one regarding LGBT issues. Would anyone be willing to join me? I am not good at writing about anti-capitalist stuff or environmental issues, because I get exceedingly bummed out from it. Like, stay-in-bed-all-day-depressed kind of bummed out. The system is broken and we need good writers who can address those things, but I probably can't be one of them.
I'd love to see mizner sign up here, and FishOutOfWater, too. Word-of-mouth seems to be working pretty well as a recruiting tool. I don't necessarily mind the name of this website ... Daily Kos is a pretty weird name too, isn't it? We ARE the 99%, and certain members are affiliated with Occupy (I'm looking at you, gulfgal :P), so it's totally fine with me.
Content content content. The community part seems to come in because we are mostly in agreement with each other about the content, yeah? Or maybe not, but I have yet to see one dickish comment here. That, in and of itself, is amazing.
OK, that's my 2 cents.
Thanks again for all you do JtC, you rock!
I miss Colorado.
Thanks for...
chiming in Shiz. I think nothing will be accomplished unless we the people learn that we need to organize. I think the way forward is to seek out like minded folks and sites and organize, alone were just shouting in the dark. We have to break the divide and conquer bonds. I very much like Joe's ideas in this thread about the make up of a front page, what it should contain and where we should be directing our efforts.
Please do a series on feminist and LGBT issues, that would be great. I extended an invitation to rsevern (Robyn) at DKos but she didn't respond, maybe you could speak with her about your ideas.
Thanks for your 2 cents, Shiz, you rock too!!
I'm pretty easy-peasy about the formatting,
but I think you and joe have a specific design you both wish to address and I'm all sort of "That's cool, whatever" about it.
It sounds like you've both been involved in this project/website for quite sometime now, so it makes sense that you would have a vision about where you want it to go and how you want it to look. I'm not really too much of a tech or design person, so I'm down with whatever vision you see fit to implement.
I do, however, love the idea of merging with other causes and websites, the disaffected lefties, and attempting to make some true coalition-building efforts. That would be fabulous. We absolutely need to be doing that, 100%, or else you're right - then we're just shouting into the wind.
I think Robyn solely diaries about T issues, in the LGBT arena, but sure - I'll send her a kosmail and ask her if she wants to participate.
You are a fantastic Blog Commander, LOL. Don't you want to put up a PayPal link for yourself or something? It seems to me that perhaps people would like to monetarily thank you for everything you've done.
Just sayin'.
I miss Colorado.
Heh...
"Blog Commander" brought momentary flashes of Ed Norton with his Captain Video space helmet on! Nah, I'm good without a PayPal link, thanks for the kind thought though.
Such a great comment, Shiz. You have such a terrific way
to express yourself that is heartening, funny, to the point and hitting the truth so often. As long as your feminist "writing" is not a front to bash anyone, who cares as much of gender equality as I do, but don't wear it on my sleeves, it's fine. I don't forget the "other gender" and I don't want feminist activism "abused" for bashing all those, who dare to criticize something "famous feminists" try to sell sometimes and silence those. (the way it's done right now at dk and I couldn't resist to stay away to lash out in "cat-like" fighting mode), I think your series would be a great asset. I certainly would look forward to it.
To me right now this site here is my 12-step program, helping me to stay away from DK commenting one comment at a time. Of course I want to get rid of that sort of interaction at dk completely and also don't want to get into the same mode on this site here, because ... I guess ... I am weak ... and can't resist ... to talk.
Another thing that you said
could be said of DK in somewhat similar manner. It uses social issues and identity politics to gain clicks and power through enciting and encouragin "enraging comment threads". Clicks bring the money, emotionally enraging readers brings the site's power, using its users addictiions and make them dependent on them. I am so glad that this site doesn't use code that let the reader see who rec'd what, doesn't let users hide comments, allows posters to edit and delete comments. That alone will make this site way more humane and honest, I believe.
Uh, well? Hmm.
I'm a little stymied by your comment, mimi. I think it might be a language barrier issue, but perhaps not?
I absolutely wear my feminism, pro-LGBT, and pro-diversity labels on my sleeve, all the time, and with pride That's just part of who I am and it's part of what makes me a fierce liberal. The people I would seek to "bash" would serve to silence us by telling us that our issues are unimportant or minute. I think it's important that cops are killing black people in droves. I think it's important that all these so-called "religious freedom" laws are popping up in state after state, so they can openly discriminate against LGBT. I think it's important that women make only 77 cents on the dollar in their jobs.
If you are speaking specifically of Hillary Clinton, then we are somewhat in agreement. I have seen misogynistic remarks lobbed at her (usually by conservatives, but not always), and will continue to give voice to those issues as they come up. However, I have noticed a familiar trend emerging: everytime someone criticizes Hillary on Dkos, they are immediately labeled a sexist. (Everytime someone criticizes Obama on Dkos, they are immediately labeled a racist.) THAT, my friend, is bullshit. That's using a wedge issue to deflect attention away from policy discussions. There are most definitely paid shills that work for OFA and the like, running rampant now on Dkos, and the transition between the Obama camp and the Hillary camp has been completed. The rox/sux wars are still going strong there; the only thing that's changed are the names of the Democratic "leaders".
I, too, am using this website as a 12-step program to stay away from Dkos, LOL. So far, it's been successful so I'll stick with it.
I agree that Dkos mirrors the Democratic Party - in fact, Dkos is now part-and-parcel of the Democratic Party. Back in the day, kos wanted to "crash the gates", and he did ... right into the Democratic Party's inner circle. Fabulous.
I miss Colorado.
definitely a misunderstanding due to my horrible ways to write
in English. Of course one wears his "feminism" on its sleeves. And someone writing about it is GREAT and needed. I very much enjoy and support those authors. As I said before, I look forward to all you write about the feminist's labels you mentioned in your comment. I read those diaries always. And all you mention in here
is such a given that I didn't even think that would be a question at all. Of course that is important and it has been written a LOT about it on dailykos. I can't remember I had ever criticized or questioned those authors.
What I was trying to say and refer to is this:
Exactly, bullshit and annoying. And that's what I meant with "abuse" the feminism and racism issues as soon someone writes something critical about feminist or black politicians.
Sorry that this was not clear. When I said I don't wear my feminism on my sleeves, I think I tried to say that I am not a responding bully type when I see people criticizing feminists or blacks. I have spent years on dailykos and tried not to react emotionally and not to say ever, what I now say here, ie that it is BS to respond to criticism of feminist or black political candidates with the accusation that one is sexist or racist.
And btw that was pretty hard to do for me, especially when the type of accusations about subconscious racism by some super-smart types were voiced, who think they have to show they know you better than you yourself. They were the reason why I started to let it be known that I am related to blacks in my family, (which I think I should never have had to do) because it seemed to be the only way to defend my views on racial issues and it occurred only because people started to get a bit "funny and threatening" at times when I said something about black politicians, some people didn't like to hear, or just by supporting black politicians, they didn't like (Cornel West and other black writers from the left). Feminism was never an issue for me. I tried once to hint at a possible bias in some and it was a complete shoutdown. So, I mean, I have no dog in that fight. I can stay silent. I know what I think and what I see, when I see it.
I only wanted to say, that I hope the same kind of response wouldn't happen on this site, be it as response to your diaries or anyone else's. I hope there is no bullying of people who criticize policies of black politicians or feminist politicians. I even have my doubts about the wisdom of some of HRC feminist activities overseas, but I tried once to hint at them and it wasn't going to work. I am not willing to "buy" into any of the feminist selling points by default and it must be possible to say something critical without being bullied down. That doesn't mean that one shouldn't wear his feminist credentials with pride and shout them out whenever one feels a need for it.
OK? Is that clearer now? Don't trust me anymore? I am not an anti-feminist at all, I just have an equality bone that tickles me too often...
That makes a ton of sense and, of course,
I am right there with you.
Thanks for explaining, mimi. I really do appreciate it. I'm sorry about the language barrier stuff; that must be hard sometimes, especially when someone is putting words in your mouth that you didn't mean to say (like me).
This really resonated with me:
Yes yes yes, a thousand times yes! I'm not just on c99p now because the Democratic Party is neoliberal and the system is broken - I'm also here because, after years of being accused of being a racist on Daily Kos, I refuse to stand with people who think that about me. Those people are not my allies and, if that's ALL they have when I present disagreements regarding Obama's shitty and undemocratic policies, then they can collectively suck it!
I miss Colorado.
Shiz
I would love to read your posts on women's issues. I do a daily open thread, and I'm struggling to find content that makes me happy, let alone all of you. Anything you can do to recruit, write, or advertise this place would be appreciated. I still go to dailykos, comment on occasion, but refuse to write a diary for the place. I have a link to this site in my sig line. Miracle of miracles, I am in a civil conservation with mallyroyal in the Mizner Hillary diary. How's that for incredible? I look forward to the evolution of this site. I don't know where it is headed, I just intend to enjoy the ride. So glad you are here.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
I hear you, sister.
Gah. The news is SO depressing these days, isn't it? It's really hard to stay positive when it's all going down the tubes so damned fast and in so many ways.
If I can find something funny to add to a thread, I'll do it, but I'll probably just rant instead. LOL. How do you cope?
I'll certainly do everything I can to promote this website. It's mostly been by word of mouth, because I needed to let go of the idea of any audience I have acquired through my years of writing on Dkos in order to come here and be OK with it. But once the Hillbots take over and kos implements another purge (which he will), I think our membership is going to skyrocket.
Good luck with your convo with mally. I had one of those about a week and a half ago, and then he turned around and said the same shit again. Oy.
I'm glad I'm here, too.
And I'm really glad that all you guys are here!
I miss Colorado.
Shiz, hope you hold FSC's feet to the fire
if she tries to run on Dems being "on the side of working women." I never blog on women's issues, but was stupefied by the Democrats pushing through the CRomnibus Bill (Dec 2014) which took the biggest swipe (legislatively) at pensions in decades.
(IOW, the ERISA "changes" included in the Cromnibus Bill slashed the pensions in multi-employer pension plans, many of them especially beneficial to women.)
These pension plans were sorta 'one-of-a-kind' since they addressed 'pay parity' for women--through collective bargaining. [I was hospitalized during some of the time that this was happening, so I didn't get to blog on it.]
Anyhoo, it had to be one of the most under-reported news stories/items in 2014.
IMHO, every Presidential candidate should have to denounce this law, and vow to repeal/overturn it--or own it!
BTW, Harry Reid pushed this disastrous bill through, 56-40, majority votes were Democrats (of course).
Reid Hopes For Quick "Cromnibus" Passage, Getaway
I sure as heck don't care for Schumer, but after Reid did this, I'm not sure that we could do much worse.
Good luck--look forward to your posts!
**********
Ditto regarding all your hard work, JTC. It is more than impressive!
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Hi there, Mollie!
Are you musiccitymollie from Dkos? Just curious, but no pressure if you don't want to tell me ...
FSC ... uh ... do you mean HRC?! LOL. Because I looked up FSC on Google and the first thing that came up was the Forest Stewardship Council. Ha.
The CRomnibus bill, as well as the CRomnibus vote, was a fairly disgusting display of how Congress works against the people. Please don't get me started - we'll be here all night, but thanks for the reminder on how it screwed women. You're absolutely right in the ways it took money out of the pockets of ordinary Americans. Ugh.
I sometimes wonder if these assholes recall that thing called the French Revolution, and why it came about to begin with. It makes you seriously wonder.
I think Chuck Schumer is worse than Harry Reid, but they're both essentially cut from the same cloth. I dislike them both, vehemently, but Schumer moreso than Reid. Reid is a total wuss, for sure, but Schumer is from the devil.
Have a good night.
I miss Colorado.
Indeed, my namesake being
our dear (late) Miniature Schnauzer Mollie from Music City, or Nashville.
That "FSC thing" is the result of having blogged at a couple blogs where we had to show deference to her and/or the President. IOW, it's to avoid a ridiculous pie fight--not that I need it here, it's just a habit now.
Actually, you nailed it about both Reid and Schumer.
I'm just so tired of hearing about 'what a fighter' Reid is--he sure doesn't come across as a fighter to me, in any aspect.
And what can I say? Schumer's just a downright corporate toadie--and I'm being charitable.
We're in big time trouble with either of these men leading Senate Dems. Actually, I believe even more so, if/when there is a Dem Party President.
Have a good one!
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
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