(Hope this won't be too long for you all)
Back in the archaic, colorless TV days of June 2008, I came to this great site bemused by how our centrist, corporate media still didn't want to do its job in bashing how Republican/conservative ideology had failed America and almost completely ruin the country (and arguably the rest of the world) with the Cheney Administration.
I saw an excerpt in the New York Daily News highlighting notable words from blogs on both the left and the right, and below a ridiculous Red State trash comment saying that "Senator Obama called Canadian Prime Minister Harper 'President Harper,' meaning he is not fit to be president," was just a common sense rational excerpt from Daily Kos on John McCain's clown campaign beginning to start the comedy fest it inevitably became.
And ever since then, after seeing a few other excerpts from the site, and seeing Markos be on Keith's (Olbermann) show, I was hooked onto the Daily Kos community. And because of Daily Kos, I got to learn about Talking Points Memo and Huffington Post become it became a trendy, centrist attention desperate site (though a few good reporters remain there). Although I knew a bit about Media Matters and Atrios' (Duncan Black) great one man abridged online newspaper site, Daily Kos definitely further my knowledge of how vast the online liberal/progressive community was.
Because of Daily Kos, I knew more about those aforementioned sites, Think Progress, Ballon Juice, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, The Washington Independent (now defunct), and the yellow page legend that is Digby, a great Yin to the Yang of Atrios' blue on a blogger template for them.
Due to all of those sites, it help me become the writer and journalist that I have developed into over the last five years since joining you, this community, in 2008, instead of a brainless anchor like the Craig Melvins or Chris Jansings of the world who continue to "Let Both Sides Talk" instead of actually doing their jobs and staying only the facts.
And it has led to me, a person who went to school in Boston to be a sports TV anchor, into a political reporter and writer that Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story, Ebony Magazine, and The Grio has allowed my work to be on. It lead to me getting a chance to appear on the RT network and HuffPostlLive, although the latter really does suck and is quite limited for all of its potential and financial backing.
And it lead to me being on the best radio political morning show around right now, sir David Waldman's "Kagro X in the Morning." You guys may have heard of it, I think?
And because of being apart of the Daily Kos community, it lead to Rachel Maddow and the MSNBC primetime crew highlighting one article of mine during their coverage of the 2012 nutcase fest that was the RNC on air. The article, titled "Romney Campaign Meets Equal Pay Question with Long Silence" (up above) from my time at The Raw Story as an associate editor, could not have been possible without you guys, whether you were apart of Daily Kos before or after I started.
And now today, after a decent bit of time grinding in the capricious, insane freelance writing life of sports, politics, and music, barely making it in the still hoods of certain parts of Brooklyn, I would like to share a good bit of great news with you all.
I'm joining the Pierre Omidyar new news website that has Glenn Greenwald, Dan Froomkin, Jeremy Scahill and Liliana Segura (who has been on "Up" when Chris Hayes hosted the show) apart of it. I'm going to at least be doing sports there, but since culture, race, and class issues can be complicated for those in this country that didn't grow up in an American ghetto or hood like me, then I'll provide some perspective on that as well if need be.
I won't leave politics all behind as well, but mainly, I will be at least their sports, music, and race culture guy there.
Me being apart of that potentially great organization could not have been possible without you all. From all of you that even took time to read and rec'd some of my articles (with some of them having the occasional typo here and there due to typing to be the first to post a certain article or post), I am forever grateful to you all and will certainly try and help you to the best of my time and ability.
Specifically, I think Markos for helping my still irrelevant page on Twitter have some sort of audience, as well as Kagro having me on his show and having a fun time. I also think Barbara, Jed Lewison, MeteorBlades, Joan McCarter, BrooklynBadBoy, DemFromCt for sure, and specifically in the community, Utah's finest JLMS QKW, Javachik, skywalker9, slinkerwink, TomP, NYCEve, BruinKid, One Pissed Off Liberal and many, many more.
I haven't been able to post anything in a long time here. In fact, I haven't posted anything here since after the first Obama-Romney debate last year because of the news grind. And i definitely miss another opportunity to make fun of the trash site that is Hackio (Politico).
But I will always be apart of this community forever, no matter what happens in the future. It will always start with Daily Kos consolidating my thoughts on core Democratic principles that are the reason for the Democratic Party not blowing itself up like the nutcase party on the other end, not centrist, corporate lying or half-truthers sellouts that have further caused people to hate the capital and think neither side has solutions.
Thank you all wonderful Daily Kos community, and I will see you soon. Until then, stay well, God Bless (whether you're any reline or an atheist), and farewell until next time.