No We Can't. As the polls were closing in Massachusetts on the evening of January 19th, turning Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat over to the Republicans for the first time in half a century, David Plouffe was busy reminiscing about the glory days. The president’s former campaign manager was nowhere to be found at the sprawling war room of Organizing for America, the formidable grass-roots army he had forged during the 2008 campaign (more)

aka OFA, the site that ate my.barackobama.com by giving control of it to the DNC

On his main website, barackobama.comOffsite Link on February 11, 2007 Presidential candidate Barack Obama launched my.barackobama.comOffsite Link. This social networking site built an online community of over a million members before the presidential election. (more)

Micah Sifry: Inside the Fall of Obama’s Grassroots Army. On July 20, 2008... Christopher Edley had invited them to join a “Movement 2.0 Brainstorming Group.” Together, they would ponder a crucial question: how to “sustain the movement” should Barack Obama, who was still a month away from accepting the Democratic nomination, go on to win the White House. (more)

Cory Doctorow: A Democratic media strategy to save journalism and the nation. As unbearably cringe as the hunt for a "leftist Joe Rogan" is, it is (to use a shopworn phrase), "directionally correct." Democrats suck at getting their message out, and that exacts a high electoral cost. (more)

David Talbot: How Barack Obama Really Did It. Joe Trippi, Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign manager and Internet impresario, describes Super Tuesday II–the March 4 primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island–as the moment Barack Obama used social tecnology to decisive effect. The day’s largest hoard of dele­gates would be contested in Texas. Hillary Clinton’s camp had about 20,000 volunteers at work in Texas. But in an e-mail, Trippi learned that 104,000 Texans had joined Obama’s social-­networking site, www.my.barackobama.com. In Texas, MyBO also gave the Obama team the instant capacity to wage fully networked campaign warfare. After seeing the volunteer numbers, Trippi says, “I remember saying, ‘Game, match–it’s over.’” (more)

Democrats Lost the Propaganda War. The intra-Democratic argument over what should be done following their loss in 2024 goes on. Bernie Sanders is arguing for working-class populism. Matt Yglesias has been flogging a “Common Sense Manifesto” arguing for Bill Clinton–style triangulation. (more)

Peter Overby: The Fate Of Obama's Net Roots Network. Just two weeks after the historic election, Barack Obama campaign officials sent an e-mail to roughly 10 million "Obamamaniacs" and volunteers who had registered with the campaign online, asking them what the president-elect should tackle in the months ahead.... from campaign manager David Plouffe. (more)

Dylan Matthews says Chris Hughes wants another chance. Hughes — worth around $400 million, according to Forbes — is aware of his role in building this culture. He also knows that he’s hardly the first rich business leader to turn apostate and critique the capitalist processes that enriched him. But he’s unique in an important sense: He’s the first founder of a major tech firm to call for that firm’s dismantling (Facebook). (more)

Kate Albright-Hanna: How The Cool Kids Killed Obama’s Grassroots Movement. Eight years ago, I was trapped inside the Barack Obama Presidential Transition office in Washington, D.C., watching the life and soul drain out of the thing we had birthed and nurtured in Chicago for almost two years. (more)

Trump’s mixed messaging leaves Dems struggling to find a way forward. Unlike the first time Donald Trump won the presidency, Democrats are not expecting major protests. Instead, Democrats across all levels of government are plotting more cautiously open approaches to Trump. (more)

Michel Bauwens: MyBO details about Barack Obama campaign's network strategy. Larry Lessig warns that if Obama wins but doesn’t govern according to principles of openness and change, as promised, supporters may not be so interested in serving as MyBO foot soldiers in 2012. (more)

Robert Reich: How to root out Trumpism. In the fall of 2015, I visited Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Carolina while doing research on the changing nature of work in America. (more)

Some Presidential Election stuff: (more)

Global Tel Link (GTL), formerly known as Global Telcoin, Inc. and Global TelLink Corporation, is a Reston, Virginia–based telecommunications company, founded in 1989, that provides Inmate Calling Service (ICS) through "integrated information technology solutions" for correctional facilities (prison)[1][2] which includes inmates payment and deposit, facility management, and "visitation solutions".[2] The company's CEO is Deb Alderson. In 2020, GTL delivered 4.1 billion call minutes to incarcerated individuals and their families. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Tel_Link (more)

Cory Doctorow: Prison-tech company bribed jails to ban in-person visits (02 Apr 2024). When prison-tech companies started offering "free" tablets to America's vast army of prisoners, it set off alarm-bells for prison reform advocates. (more)

Prison-tech company. Owned by Private Equity firm Platinum Equity (founder/CEO Tom Gores (who also owns the Detroit Pistons) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_Equity In 2017, Platinum Equity acquired prison communication firm Securus Technologies. The firm came under pressure from criminal justice activists for its alleged excessive pricing for prison calls, borne primarily by poor and minority prisoners.[35] In 2019, Platinum Equity announced plans to reorganize the company as a more diverse technology company, and created Aventiv Technologies as Securus's new corporate parent. (more)

aka War on Drugs

DocVerse, a company founded by two former Microsoft employees Shan Sinha and Alex DeNeui, let Microsoft Office users share and edit their documents online. Acquired by Google in 2010 to drive GoogleDocs and GoogleSheets.

see MsOffice