@dystopian I think this would be a great idea. Not sure what has to be done to make it possible but I did spend the weekend worrying that one of my sources of news was gone. Glad to see it back and running and JtC hope you have some time to enjoy your Thanksgiving!

What a thrill to see this back up and running! Thank you fearless leader!

Here are some possible reasons for the c99 crash
1) I posted too much, exceeding limits, on Friday.
2) Conversation got so heavy, the whole dang thing collapsed under its own weight.
3) Deep state realized we were on to something here.
4) Server was in Buffalo, N.Y.
5) List owner finally figured out how to block me.

Perhaps we should have a EBS - emergency broadcast system? Whereby an email broadcast goes out to those signed up that explains things.

I have two primitive websites, one hobby, one biz. Not crazy about the hosts in either case, but they are up and running almost all the time. However they are not message boards, mostly just a bunch of html and poor pics. I keep them in two vastly different areas of the U.S. so an earthquake or blizzard is not likely to take both down. That way I can always use the email at the other when one goes down.

Anyway, GREAT to have you and the site back up and running.

@Blue Republic

a Thanksgiving buffet in Daikenyama. It was pretty nice.

you and the site back up, JtC.

C99 being down was good for a reality check as to how worthwhile it really is - thanks for putting in the work to keep it up and going.

Hope you have the opportunity to chill out and recover a bit for Turkey Day. Not much of a thing here in Japan - the one American holiday I actually miss.

Holiday cheers,

- BR

@Pluto's Republic

Pushing guns into the hands of ordinary citizens in the US, is a very deliberate policy. It has monumental psychological and social implications.)

In Oregon - where, despite the plain language of the Oregon Constitution to the contrary, the most anti-gun 'Violence Reduction Act" (Measure 114) has just passed(albeit by 1% or less, and with 29 of 36 Oregon counties against it).

Among its provisions, no one can buy a gun without having undergone training in a course at the county level which does not exist and for which there is no funding... It has about as much to do with reducing gun violence as the Inflation Reduction boondoggle had to do with reducing inflation - zero, if not less.

I suppose you could contend that such overreach is designed to push people to arm themselves - certainly it's reported that there is a rush on in Oregon to purchase guns and high capacity magazines before Dec. 8 when the law is scheduled to come into effect. Given recent SC decisions and any plain reading of the Oregon Constitution and that lawsuits are already flying to challenge it, that may well be delayed and much or all of the measure may not survive court challenges.

A bright spot in the situation were the significant number of leftist groups who weighed in in opposition:

...

This bill as written serves to imprison and punish otherwise law-abiding vulnerable groups, all in the name of preventing gun violence. The police effectively get to decide who should be armed—a decision which may be prohibitively expensive to appeal—without any oversight.

Please vote No on Measure 114.

PDX SRA is the Portland chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association, a 501(c)(4) firearms education organization that seeks to empower those marginalized by a capitalist society.

Antifa:

Rising Fascism Makes Community Defense Necessary

Between 2005-2010, I published a ‘zine called American Gun Culture Report. My writers were overwhelmingly folks of color, LGBTQ and others who owned firearms because they cared about community defense and knew the violent history of gun control being used to disarm persecuted populations.

Since those years, I have been contacted by countless individuals sharing stories about using guns to resolve dangerous situations. Typical were examples close to me. One friend pointed her shotgun at a man who broke into her house, scaring him away, and another friend recently drew his pistol on a knife wielding man attempting a gay bashing attack, holding him until police arrived. In none of these cases were shots fired and a firearm ended the confrontations peacefully.

Many people told me they kept such stories themselves, because there is such a harmful stigma connecting guns with conservative politics. There are easily available statistics about firearms being used for terrible acts, yet none documenting how often they save lives. However, just a brief look at American history demonstrates the important role armed defense has played, from the Appalachian Mining Wars to Mississippi Civil Rights struggle. In more recent times, I have provided firearms training out in rural parts of Oregon where immigrant communities exist under regular threat from Right wing groups and law enforcement is distrusted or simply unavailable.

But gun violence finally touched my life. Last February, a dear friend was shot and almost killed at the hands of a fascist mass shooter who opened fire on a peaceful police accountability protest at a Portland park. One woman died and several others were wounded before antifascist security used their AR-15 to quickly stop him. Were Measure 114 in effect, my friend and many others would surely be dead.

Before voting, please consider all the consequences.

Thank you for your time.

Ross Eliot

www.occupy2a.blog

(This information furnished by Ross Gustafson, Antifascists of Cascadia.)

FWIW - there has not been a generation on the shitkicker/hillbilly side of my ancestry, going back to when the United States of America was not even a remote idea that has *not* 'had guns in their hands' - including the ones they took to fight the War of Independence with.

Source (arguments in opposition by various groups that appeared in the 2022 Oregon General Election Voter's Pamphlet)

But yes, I can see the prospect of an armed (and responsible and aware) citizenry having serious and psychological and social implications for those aspiring to absolute authoritarian rule. It was ever thus with tyrants...

Oregon Consitution
Article 1, Section 27

Right to bear arms; military subordinate to civil power.

The people shall have the right to bear arms for the defence [sic] of themselves, and the State, but the Military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power[.]

JtC, you said you had to perform a site-wide software maintenance, and you expected some glitches.

So, I just assumed you were trying to shove this octopus back into the shoebox.

As a result, I brushed off the 'missing' C99 — even though my paranoia throttle runs a little hot these days. (I also took a moment to contemplate life without a community like this to run reality checks and talk to serious/funny aware people. I pictured the near future, living in the US, when it finally becomes alarming or dangerous to speak obvious truths about political matters. Where one might be considered mentally ill if they expressed misgivings about the artificial facades and illogical narratives that surround us. And yet, around us right now, there are cognitively stressed citizens who carry guns with them when they enter the public square. Pushing guns into the hands of ordinary citizens has been a very deliberate government policy. It is seen as the the most important "right" that US citizens have; far surpassing any of the globally-recognized Human Rights. This has monumental psychological and social implications.)

@Creosote.

Better late than… it was the time that tried our souls that’s for sure! I think we all felt a horrible loss, but I came across quite a few sites that were worried about what might have happened. Phew! Good to know that there are many, many others that appreciate this site.

Hope you are doing well!

And of course I thought I'd done it -- I'd made a small change to my sign-in.
But then I saw everything was gone.
And the white screen arrived with a four-word phonecall from an old friend (since 1950s, person who'd had a 'booster'), coughing, barely able to speak -- "Bit of a cough" -- then no word from them for days .
And still no site found next day.
Profound shock of actual formidable irreparable isolation, and recent blood panel suggesting 10 more years of that. What for?

And then I could breathe again; friend tested and found OK too.
Warmth and true gratitude to you, JtC, and all of you.
A lesson!