Lessons Learned and RIP, Jackpine Radicals

My thoughts right now are about our ever-changing neighborhoods, physical or virtual, starting circa 2,000 after 33 years of living in the South. Our family returned to Pennsylvania so that we might live, work and engage in a local community. In the post paranoia of W's 9-11 presidency, I traveled internationally to see other cultures up close, became a grandmother, ran for and served in local government, and since not much changed after serving, sought human bonding elsewhere.

The teaming discussion boards off the internet were a natural place of refuge with political discussion, attempting to connect those who might want to sense my soul. From that point, I would learn that local politics in Pennsylvania weren't much different from the ones who caucused in the US House. They promised and caucused, and asked for more support as opportunities to tackle cradle to grave Medicare, fund educational systems linked to gainful employment, remove debt and provide living wages crumbled. If I dared point this out to my previous internet community, the partisans on that big ole discussion responded by shoving a big "D" in my face. The old, "Any Democrat is better than" retort... The very thing that rubbed me the wrong way over corrupt, controlled local government started to piss me off by the owners of that discussion board. Other posters who I was just getting to know there seemed to feel the same way. So, through our private messages to one another, I exited stage-left just as I was ready to be kicked out of there, anyway.

So, re-register, I did with some others, some who changed their usernames, some who didn't. It felt like the land of enchanted thought opened at that point. It was so far from pedantic control, or decisions of a jury to decide the fate of posting something out of the margins of group think discussion. I could now remove any hesitation to discuss the movie, Zeitgeist, which somehow was thought to be "antisemitic" by previous site administrators. I could rant in disgust if I wanted about either side of the political spectrum, or how rigged the primary was in 2016.

Now, I understood the importance in following rules as penned responsibly by someone who fearlessly leads you, and I finally found one that not only engaged as a poster, but who loved using a "democratic" process, and not in deference to a capital "D"... The site was called JackpineRadicals (JPR) and with a still heavy heart, I realize that it is no longer in existence. It's administrator, who owned and led it was Steven Klinksiek, a.k.a. "So Far From Heaven". Steve wasn't just interested as a tribal member of free thought to what a bunch of others thought, he was fair. He also had long pedigree of earning a PHD in phys­ics. In fact, he designed and con­struc­ted something referred to as a ‘muon cham­ber’. Go look that one up. He researched for the Large Had­ron Col­lider, at CERN in Geneva, Switzer­land. But, the point is, he was fair and a hell of a lot of fully F bombed fun at times. I just knew his acronym - sffh and finally called him Fearless Leader falling back on my Rocky and Bulwinkle mentality. One of his favorite things beside his co-administrator and wife and son, who also administrated, was to come up with a heck of an interesting daily trivia, which I tried to mimic on Mondays, using my version of nonsense that was also fun to do. Over the years with his physical health, he needed to pawn off some of the trivia, so I took the bait.

The posters/members I engaged with, played occasional trivia with, discussed some things that had to be shoved into a creative speculation group (JFK, UFO's government secrets), and ragged on most members of the Democratic party with, are STILL in existence. Some of them are here... I sure hope.

What lessons might I have learned from the interlude of discussion at JPR? From my perspective, a range of pretty good ones... Primarily, there are more issues that unite us and piss us off at the same time, and that those issues tease out personal examples of what we discuss WITH that community and that it is so needed. The take home message of that day, or week, or war, or supreme court decision promoted provocative discussion. I see evidence that discussion here, and it is truly heartfelt when it comes together.

At this point, I realize that what I may be boring some here with is the loss of my tribe. So, please don't this solution is only at my fingertips and blow this off too lightly. I can call it tribal, but I believe it was more tribal-cohesive, because If what you see written at first glance makes it easy for you to add on to that thought, then this explains why a particular member who may otherwise not care to revisit a conversation constantly comes back to lurk or even more. It is the magic thing that makes me want to commit to it. Should I see the new town hall that allows me time to sit around the fire, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna share a song later (or link one like people did on the subject of trivia). I'm gonna look forward to that place, which will always be there and which had layers of tribes. Community therein is not going to be surprised by a point of discussion that openly trashes the false praise of "America-Fuck Yeah!" in the mainstream media or how the medicine you get is the one the 1% gives you. A community like that enables you to chew on and spit up the awful path a nation takes where she is rife with class struggles, families driven apart purposely by both political parties, by inadequate health care and depleted funds in the attempt to rebuild ones life, or designations by using words like, "socialist", "Marxist" or "Antifa" or, "eco-terrorist"... the deeper you probe, the BETTER. The more people feel a conversation about amoral, unfettered capitalism calls them to sit around this fire, the more cohesive the tribe is.... especially these days, know-what-I-mean?

That is how I felt and still feel about JPR, and I miss and respect all who enabled it, especially those mentioned. You couldn't dress it up much at times, but you could create the space for others doing that very thing. Depending on whether one generation takes on younger or older ones, the need to do it, like the feelings of my heart, live on.

I don't like the way JPR simply stopped dead in the tracks, but these things do happen. And in memory of the lessons learned from JPR, I'd love to reminisce with that tribe and remind Fearless Leader that I know EXACTLY where he is... right here, baby.... Right here.

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Lookout's picture

other than the occasional read. But this community is open to opinions, views, and ideas supported by some sort of evidence. However, all views are (at least) tolerated. So jump in. The water is fine.

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14 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

Not at all. It can be traumatic for people to suddenly lose a place that they had invested in and found others that think like them and share lots of the same ideals. After many members here were either kicked off or disgusted with DK and found this blue blog there was a lot of gnashing of teeth and hurt feelings so you needing an adjustment period, but also wanting to explain what JPR meant to you I understand where you’re coming from. I hope that you eventually come to enjoy this site as much as you did over there. Thanks for sharing.

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18 users have voted.

A leftist is someone with morally correct politics. A liberal is someone who wants to feel morally correct w/o ever putting themselves at odds with power or costing themselves opportunities or experiencing the uncomfortable emotions that truth causes.

QMS's picture

It ain't pretty sometimes, but it is something to learn from others perspectives.
Jack Pine was somewhat interesting to me in my occasional visit, but it didn't
always seem to click in my muddied brain. This site is worth investing some time and
attention to, as we tend to be a varied sort. Outlandish is generally not frowned upon.
Which is good. Sorry about your loss and welcome.
Q

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18 users have voted.

and find out what happened to JPR. I also liked the community there. Did not post much or interact much. But enjoyed it all the same. Long ago I met some of the original Jackpine Radicals in Madison. When TOP ran so many of us out of town it was nice to find a new place that had it roots with people I knew of.
I always thought of JPR and C99 as complimentary to each other. JPR being a little more the place to just post a headline and a link. C99 a place to push a well thought out narrative with multiple links and more wordy feedback in comments.

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15 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@wouldsman

JPR being a little more the place to just post a headline and a link. C99 a place to push a well thought out narrative with multiple links and more wordy feedback in comments.

Comments there are also not as deep as they are here and it works for them. Unfortunately it has become infested with trolls and also unfortunately people feed them. You will never change a paid troll's mind and if they get paid per comment you’re just making them more money.

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10 users have voted.

A leftist is someone with morally correct politics. A liberal is someone who wants to feel morally correct w/o ever putting themselves at odds with power or costing themselves opportunities or experiencing the uncomfortable emotions that truth causes.

@snoopydawg Well, as there would be trolls from time to time, I can also say that it didn't last long. As a moderator there, I reached that conclusion with other mods. We made sure that the opposite didn't happen either, as was not the case on DU. As far as spam filtering and continued security, it went through iterations and was about as secure as it could be after the hired guns helped and membership helped try out new builds of the site. I'd say things were done carefully back in the day sffh had better health. The loss of him was the loss of the site, and I had pretty intimate knowledge of it.

So, it was very thoughtful, but my opinion comes from seeing it long range right up until the first part of July.

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13 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@MrMickeysMom

I was talking about wotb not jpr. My bad for not making it clear. I’m just tired of seeing so many good essays getting derailed there by trolls and people feeding them.

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10 users have voted.

A leftist is someone with morally correct politics. A liberal is someone who wants to feel morally correct w/o ever putting themselves at odds with power or costing themselves opportunities or experiencing the uncomfortable emotions that truth causes.

@snoopydawg Ah, SO! I just figured that out before your explanation. JPR had a link to WOTB, but I never ventured.

I also saw someone else post the acronym "DK" and I swear, that rang a bell as some kind of offshoot of DU.

Trolls gotta make pay, eh?

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2 users have voted.

So a page was formed after Brian Kemp realized non-symptomatic people could pass COVID. At first it was great! My kind of people. Trashing idiots like Kemp as well not trusting the Dems. It grew.

Then! The first Bill Clinton/George Bush post reminding us of 'better' times. Made me want to vomit. I expressed dismay. I had many supporters. Within weeks, the site had so many people promoting the Clinton/Bush era that I was removed for simply calling it out for what it was.

Needless to say the original people in the post were not Biden kind of people. We had to be silenced to allow the senile, war-mongering president to be able to make sure nothing what the people want happen. We must have war with Russia and China. That is all that matters. Black lives? Minimum wage? Health Care? Nope. Gotta send Pelosi to Taiwan to start yet another war.

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15 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@Mickt

That people have rehabilitated not only Clinton, but Bush too after spending his entire tenure as president bitching about him and the republicans. But all it took to rehabilitate the worst of the worst was them saying unkind things about Trump. David Frum, Bill Krystal and the other neocons that lied us into the Iraq war have all been promoted on DK during Trump. The Kagans including Victoria Nuland, Robert's wife have also been rehabilitated. Vicky because she’s anti Russian and in Biden’s administration helping to run the Ukraine shit show. I thought I had gone to an alternate reality when Frum first made his appearance over there.

Oh well the next Trump is probably going to be worse than Trump himself, but if original Trump trashes the replacement Trump he will also be rehabilitated. People are placing bets on it.

018D0574-40BE-4312-9156-23C715C08A8F.jpeg
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15 users have voted.

A leftist is someone with morally correct politics. A liberal is someone who wants to feel morally correct w/o ever putting themselves at odds with power or costing themselves opportunities or experiencing the uncomfortable emotions that truth causes.

@snoopydawg
Vhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump...

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9 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

We know what it feels like to suddenly find ourselves adrift.
Grab some flotsam and join in.

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15 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

janis b's picture

I think for all of us participating online and in life, communication and community satisfy a natural desire to build relationships that are meaningful and have the potential for growth and understanding.

I think you might have misinterpreted snoopy’s comment. Maybe it was because you are feeling vulnerable at the moment, which is understandable and I’m sure appreciated by others. I would say from my personal experience, it is a time to be gentle with yourself and feel welcome.

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12 users have voted.

@janis b Thank you. I appreciate that.

My problem is the newness of the site and the freshness of the other, plus the volunteer things I do in my neck of the real world. I sit on a board of a 501c.3 who is little but mighty in fighting the harms due to the fracking industry here.

Now, there's another essay which maybe I'll just do in open threads. Also, I need to figure out how to insert pictures or gifs, etc. and that will take some time to figure out.

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6 users have voted.
usefewersyllables's picture

are refugees, of one form or another. Many were shown the door from the Great Orange Satan, and wandered through the desert of a bunch of different Reddit groups before finally finding a home here. I hope that you find it to your liking, and that you can encourage some of the folks from your old community to come and see if what's on offer here suits them as well.

This is an amazing island of sanity in the midst of some distinctly unsane times. There are some disagreements, and the occasional troll, but by and large the community really works well. Welcome!

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15 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables It's just The Orange Satan (TOS). There's nothing Great about it.

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10 users have voted.

Since finding out from Ohio Barbarian's website that you intended to post it here. I, too, feel like I lost part of my tribe (the other part being here on caucus99%). JPR and C99 have been my two go to websites for all things progressive.

There really isn't much else out there.

I never went to Site Voldemort (out of respect, I won't give search bots the chance to return them hits), I came to C99 from The Orange Satan after discussions with other members like myself who were disgusted with that site. So we migrated here. That was when I started looking for other sites that shared the same progressive values. I found the newly formed JPR. These folks had likewise migrated from a corporate shill site. Or is that corporate shit site? I immediately felt right at home.

Like every family, there have been battles. Like here at C99, I was banned once (for dancing in joy at the death of George Bush Sr.). I forget why I got banned once here. But both places eventually forgave me and let me back.

As an aside, I've proudly been banned from the Orange Satan eight times and they never let me back any of those times. I suppose I could go get banned again, but even trolling corporate whores with truth bombs gets old after a while.

SFFH and I used to have our battles, mostly over censorship. I was unafraid to post something up about subjects he felt strongly repugnant. Like the Great Reset, etc. I felt as a free society, we should discuss any and everything. Once you censor the littlest thing, nothing is safe. Just ask lefties who once cheered the censorship of Alex Jones. How'd that work out? But when he passed away, I was saddened. He had created something special.

Then there was that thing about dancing on graves. Bad taste? Maybe, but I am unabashedly not sorry for dancing on George Bush's grave. Or the graves of others.

Things like this we argued about. But we remained family. And that is one more thing that set JPR apart of Site Voldemort or The Orange Satan. Aside from those last two places being full of corporate shills and CIA operatives. At JPR, like here at C99, you could talk about anything. And it was okay, even if we disagreed.

And now it's gone. Progressives are worse off for it.

I haven't felt like dancing since.

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10 users have voted.

We are a community that reflects the real life community each of of live in. Views from left and right. That is life, that is site life.
We do not always agree on this and that, but we are allowed to voice our opinions, and should have some reliable source with which to show how our opinion was formed.
Insults are just not tolerated well, any more than they would be on the street, the office break room, or gatherings for a family reunion. It is no more "stifling" than getting smacked down with dirty looks at the office, as an example.
When I abruptly left DKOS, I felt adrift, only as long as it took me to come here. OPOL and I were really great pals. He was here, prior to his untimely death. My other DKOS pals have come here, or given up online community altogether.
You will be comparing this site to JPR until there comes that day when you give dead JPR no thought.
Have some fun here, say what's on your mind.

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8 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

soryang's picture

Thanks for the early history of JPR. Saw your comments at OB's blog. I miss JPR. So I'm here.

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8 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

@soryang
glad to have you with us. Check out the FAQs if you need help navigating the site.

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7 users have voted.

@soryang Ahhhh....So good to see you here!!! I always felt internationally smarter by reading your posts, for one reason. *hi*

I plan on posting more after the first part of this month is over. I'll be shifting to a less intense schedule then.

Thank you for connecting. I think a lot of OB's substack, too.

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4 users have voted.
Ohio Barbarian's picture

There's no way I'm going to top that here or on my own blog.

I see a lot of familiar names on the membership list here. After a brief perusal, it seems Steve would have liked it here, and that's good enough for me.

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4 users have voted.

Never let your morals prevent you from doing the right thing.--Salvor Hardin, Foundation, by Isaac Asimov

Motivated to add my sick and twisted thoughts. Not to bury them with faint damnation- It is worth remembering there were more than two iterations of this message board. It is worth remembering some active folks took a very conservative point of view to some blatantly obvious events and JUST LIKE THOSE SLIME AT DU tossed disbelievers out on their ear, eliminating some useful, accurate and intelligent participants, presumably diminishing their entire virtual political and philosophical output in a world overrun by botlike PR whores at every level. Then these white hat/helmet defenders of decency disappeared, as the mob was too filthy for their handling.
None of this would resonate so much if it were not for the bizarre history of disappearing progressive (for lack of a better expression in this corporate coopted triple speak world of lies called politics) discussion. From the day Media Whores Online shuttered at peak popularity, to the assault on Progressive Independent, to the transmogrification of the Bernie diaspora into a mirror for DU level of wheel spinning and finger pointing. Something has smelled funny all along. For responsible parties to shutter without warning is inexcusable for a variety of genuine reasons. Whatever lay at the bottom of this, trust was never deserved by any of these operators. Any offered was certainly betrayed. A series of disappointing events showing many folks to be just as vapid, racist, conservative, duplicitous and indifferent to the average persons real issues, while echoing the dismay or approval of propaganda to ludicrous degrees and utter hypocrisy.
like everywhere else, for the most part, as open information warfare against the people of the US wins every battle without a fight. Shame on these fuckers for all the bad things that happened to decent people, and the darkness behind their phony personas.

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4 users have voted.
QMS's picture

@kelly

will not diminish your literary talents
write on

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2 users have voted.

So Far From Heaven was often supportive of my posts in the early days of JPR and he was very flexible for people of different mindsets. My condolences to his friends and family.

Just wanted to say....

I was possibly the reason for the creation of the Creative Speculation group back then when Manny Goldstein was in charge as my lengthy posts about the White Helmets, Russiagate psyop and Wikileaks/Soros DC leaks, along with the Ukrainian Nazis, was very controversial at the time and led to a lot of conflict in the JPR community. He felt that I was too pro-Russia, (whatever that means).... A few of us were quite disappointed that the site we left DU for was also censoring highly-revealing information about our governments crimes. Manny Goldstein didn't seem to take a liking to that info coming out so he and the mods he put in place went after me and had me shut out. Sadly, Mary embarrassed herself with some of those emails she sent to me explaining Manny's reasoning for wanting me off the site. I guess I should be thankful, as that led to me setting up the site Clarity of Signal where I compiled a lot of that info after being tombstoned. I've been out of the groups for a long time now but still post at Reddit Conspiracy under the name Clarity of Signal. Just wanted to say hello again and let everyone know what happened. P.S. If Ohio Barbarian is also censoring or against posting about the Great Reset then a similar problem as the one I had with Manny and Mary still exists as that issue is incredibly important for everyone these days. It really is about the future of humanity, the choice between an AI and billionaire elite controlled Huxleyian-Orwellian dystopia and true creative freedom with consciousness rising for all humanity. Worldwide this rising of consciousness and understanding that the system is corrupt is taking place, and what we are witnessing now is the affects of these two paths for humanity clashing. Its gonna get a lot stranger yet but it's important to let all subjects be discussed and let freedom ring. Also I wanted to point out that the real battle is a class war, not left vs right or any of the other divisive issues their corrupt media uses to control us all. It really is the corrupt, murderous elite with their outdated systems of control versus We The People. With that in mind, be kind to your neighbor, turn off the MSM and get some lovely fresh air outside with friends and family as much as possible to keep raising your vibration. With that in mind, maybe the moun's and electrons will produce a future reality that is absolutely fantastic for all of us and we can leave these corrupt systems behind.... All the best.

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3 users have voted.

Exposing Geopolitical Madness

@ClarityofSignal Your opinion and your research should be up for examination and discussion.
I look forward to your contributions.

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2 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@ClarityofSignal for once, I regret deleting without reading the email I received from "Mary"
might have been worth a laugh.
appreciate your excellent efforts, but miss the contributions of many old farts who took a hint, or worse. I think I might need to study some languages just to learn more ways to say Fuck you "Manny" you cowardly fuck.

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0 users have voted.

I kinda put. stop to it as I started homeschooling my kids and wanted to put my energy there, but I do still make posts at Reddit Conspiracy, usually daily. Suffice it to say, what I learned from all that posts ng and all those groups that banned me is 1) Our nation is completely corrupt and the government and their media cronies are the terrorists. 2) Many online groups are completely corrupted and controlled opposition chambers where real harsh truths are covered up while those exposing them are censored and removed. As I state, thats why I set up my own site and now that time is over. I completed all that I intended with it to help humanity recognize the criminals and their nefarious actions. Those links are here - All the best.

https://clarityofsignal.com
https://steemit.com/@clarityofsignal

I also work one my original music these days...which is here. Maybe a few folks will get something good out of the lyrics and vibes.
https://soundcloud.com/user-889904684

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1 user has voted.

Exposing Geopolitical Madness