Events happen so quickly in the wacky whirlwind world of Donald Trump that it’s hard to react in anything close to real time, but there was an interesting story in the Guardian last weekend that I think deserves some technical context. The Great British Brexit Robbery: How our Democracy was Hijacked is a breathless but well sourced story about how a U.S. billionaire harnessed Big Data to split up the European Union and steal a U.S. Presidential election. It’s an interesting read, but the point I want to make here is that the tale was entirely predictable and if one side hadn’t done it, the other would have. Next time they’ll all do it.
The short version of this story is that Facebook data was used to identify and target individual voters both for Brexit and Trump with each of those voters getting individual, if automated, attention and custom content from the Republican and Brexit campaigns. Election shenanigans aside, Big Data decided both races and may well decide elections from here on out. But that it happened on one side rather than the other, that was probably just a matter of luck.
We’ve been here before. Remember in 2008 Barack Obama was able to harness the Internet to raise huge amounts of money, breaking the traditional Republican fundraising advantage. The resulting massive Republican defeat, losing both houses of Congress and the Presidency, did not go unnoticed by party leaders. Then Obama did it again in 2012, adding a primitive form of voter micro-targeting through social media to the Internet fundraising and another big win.
It should be no surprise, then, that Republicans — having been caught flat-footed for two Presidential election cycles — made technical advances of their own in 2016. Yet this Guardian piece makes it sound like the effort was more than that — a moral undermining of western democracy. But it wasn’t.
This is a political arms race and like any arms race it has each side trying to leapfrog the other and whatever new twist worked so well for one side in the last election will be used by both sides in the next election.
Now if they’d only try to win our votes with kindness.
Kindness? I’d rather have universal material benefits.
The only way for the political cattle (as they see us) to win is to reject, deject, and eject the money class and everyone working for them.
Bullshit article. Sending campaign messages doesn’t win elections. We are all BOMBARDED with them. A few more is like a single raindrop in a downpour, no matter how “targeted”. More likely they just annoyed people.
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Money isn’t the only key either. Trump won despite Hillary greatly outspending him. Obamad raise lots of money because he was popular. Not the other way around.
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As usual, stupid Bob gets everything 180 degrees wrong.
Just because she had the money and dumped it all on ads doesn’t mean that the ads resonated with her voters. And Trump’s ad buys and microtargeting weren’t perfect either, as I saw tons of ad buys from Trump whenever I’d wait to stream YouTube on my television.
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But Trump’s team did do one thing right: use Big Data to enable them to focus their limited money on critical spots and hit critical targets. Hillary’s team missed the warning signs that they were going to lose the Midwestern union people, something that Big Data could have teased out of the system if the data going in was correct.
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Still, all of Trump’s targeting would have been for naught if it weren’t for several factors focusing on Hillary that were out of Trump’s control: Comey and the e-mails, Anthony Weiner, Wikileaks and/or Russian interference, and Hillary’s inability to craft a consistent, coherent, positive message as to why she should be President.
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Big Data might not have been the main piece to the puzzle, but it enabled Trump to capitalize on a small opening that he had.
lol, someone isn’t the least bit familiar with this story and is just running their mouth (you). If you had bothered to read the original info this story is based on (it’s not a new revelation), you would know that this was one of the factors that tipped a very close election to Trump. They worked to both increase voter turnout for Trump leaning voters and suppressed Clinton leaning voter turnout and it was part of a coordinated plan that involved the wikileaks email dumps and free news coverage from his twittertantrums among others. They got a lot of milage out of low cost media coverage and the facebook targeting was cheap too. Now that the cat’s out of the bag on this technique it will be widely deployed and less effective.
Part 1:
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Hello, I wanted to share a story with you that is still ongoing and originated from Santa Rosa and could do with some further investigation. To give you some background, 388 people have seemingly been swindled out of $35,452 by a well-known technology journalist, Mark Stephens (who goes by the pseudonym, Robert X. Cringely) via a KickStarter campaign. I am not one of 388 individuals who backed this project but instead stumbled across this story via a friend who did and told me about it in passing.
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On the surface, this complaint just looks like a failed KickStarter, but if you explore Bob’s blog (http://www.Cringely.com), that is where the real meat of the matter starts to come to the surface and you see that it is so much more.
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Many people backed Bob’s project because he has decades of experience in the technology industry and has amassed quite a following. He used his reputation to lure 388 individuals into backing his project under the guise that his children were the real ones running the show (though minors cannot run a KickStarter campaign so it was entered under Bob’s wife’s name, Mary Alyce Neader Stephens. Additionally, other than the intro video, no one has ever heard from any of his kids). Bob stated on the campaign “virtually all development work is already done so risks are minimized. If we had cases we could start shipping tomorrow. – September 29, 2015”
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The project started out promising enough, but then updates started to come less frequently. On November 10, 2016 (over a year after the planned ship date), Bob stated that the product was essentially finished and “we’ll finally start shipping the week after Thanksgiving”. That was the last anyone heard from him via the KickStarter website.
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On Bob’s blog, he continued to post regularly so the backers took to the comments section demanding updates on their project. Bob eventually responded on January 10, 2017 and said “more on that in a few days.” but no response ever came. In fact, he stopped participating in the comments section on any of his posts to anyone from that point forward (he commented fairly regularly prior to this moment). This is the last anyone has ever heard from Bob in the comments section (4 months ago). He continues to post regularly to his blog, but has ceased participating in the comments.
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Continued…
Jeez, this kickstarter thing again. As if he needs $35K and wants to commit fraud. If Bob wanted to swindle, he could make millions by writing stories pro or con against some company or IPO. I have no idea what happened with this kickstarter thing and I don’t care. Please stop with these postings that are unrelated to his article. These kinds of postings should be removed as spam.
Yeah! We should complain to the site owner!
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Oh wait…..
Totally agree. I’m sick of these constant moaning bloody Kickstarter posts.
“I have no idea what happened with this kickstarter thing and I don’t care.”
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And there you have the problem Crookely tried to point out all tied up in a pretty package.
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So you don’t care. You must be a nice person. I bet you care about your family. Probably your friends, too. Maybe your neighbors and co-workers. The rest of the world? Screw ’em.
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It’s probably not worth the effort, but I’ll tell you what happened anyway. Here’s the USA Today version for you: Bob accepted money from a whole bunch of people. Then he gave them nothing, not even the courtesy of an apology or a “I’m sorry; I’ve failed.” So they’re all hanging around wondering what’s going on. Getting no response at Kickstarter, they’ve come here in search of answers. Still getting none — Crookely has stopped even replying to comments — we do what we can to warn others of Crookely’s dishonesty.
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Still don’t care? That’s okay. I don’t care about you either, so I’ll just keep doing this.
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Petulent, childish, selfish, ineffective, and worst of all driving away many people who might have been supportive of your cause. At this point I wouldn’t reply either. You just don’t sound like you’re going to accept any answer given.
Welcome to the party. We’ll accept any answer, just give us an answer.
@Cris E Actually I’m pretty sure that the only people who are leaving in droves are the supporters for Cringely as they get tired of “non-legit” commentors filling up the feed. Meanwhile those protesting the KS issue only seem to be growing in numbers, some even from Cringely’s camp. Roger stated thoughtful opinion while you spew unfiltered emotional outbursts that just make your statements appear uninformed and are clogging up the comments section you hold so dear.
Part 2:
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What’s more, there is a bit of a civil war happening between the backers of the KickStarter campaign and those loyal to Bob from decades of following his journalism. A few loyal followers have looked into this story and are starting to voice that something is not right and that others need to open their eyes, as Bob seemingly swindled $35,452 without any repercussions.
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Many have requested an update or refunds only to be met with silence. Additionally, many individuals have voiced complaints to KickStarter directly who has washed themselves of any liability and say it must be taken up with Cringely himself, who has not responded to any calls, emails, or messages. What’s more, he has a website up where he will still accept money for the MineServer external of the KickStarter (I am unsure whether this has amassed him any additional funds: http://mineserver.com/)
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I do not live locally, nor do most of the backers, but he lives locally to you all based on research done by the community:
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Robert Cringely
1934 Los Alamos Rd.
Santa Rosa CA 95409
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I am not monetarily invested in this story, but I am invested nonetheless simply to see justice or transparency about what is happening and why a well-respected journalist would throw his career away, which he worked 20+ years creating and amassing a following, over a few thousand dollars. What’s worse, is that the majority of the backers have stated if he simply came clean that the project failed, many would move on, and yet he remains silent and invisible dipping further in the eyes of those who read his blog week by week. Any light you can shed on this story would be helpful.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you are able to help. My hope is that you, too, stand for justice, and can help blow the lid off of this.
Stop trying to embarrass him in comments here on his blog. Kickstarter campaigns are a risk. Everyone knows that. Move on.
Heck I backed the Kickstarter as a means of saying thanks to Bob for his excellent work which I enjoy. And to encourage his kids to have a crack.
I knew there was risk and was happy to take a punt.
@Hamish Not all us have as much disposal income as you. If you are willing to chuck $75 into a Kickstarter campaign just for giggles maybe you’ll be willing to mail me my refund? If you do, I promise to leave and never comment here again (I can’t speak for the rest of the upset backers).
Then you surely know that Bob stated on this very site that he was merely using a Kickstarter with a very easily attainable goal to drum up some publicity and launch their business with a bang.
@Michael That’s like saying “You bought a house and it was robbed? Don’t bother trying to catch the criminal or alerting the authorities, that’s the risk you signed up for.” Just because you are complacent to let people get away with crime doesn’t mean the rest of us are. Cringely walked away with $35k+ for minimal effort from a campaign built on lies under the guise of his sweet innocent children.
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We will continue to bring this to the forefront of the discussion until he comes clean. It’s up to him to bring an end to this war, he simply doesn’t care that we’re bothering you all. But by all means, continue to support him, as he clearly can do no wrong in your eyes.
One again I see someone posting under my name.
This is trolling, pure and simple and invalidates any legitimate claim you might have regarding mineserver.
This whole mineserver thing has been hijacked by a rent a mob crowd.
Why exactly are you using my name for this?
Unfortunately the blog software doesn’t seem to do much (if anything) to prevent spoofing, but wouldn’t it be more fun to spoof the host? At least that way the rest of us will get the joke because we all know he doesn’t comment here any more.
“Stop trying to embarrass him in comments here on his blog.”
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Why? Do you think it’s embarrassing him? Is it hurting his reputation? Is it annoying you?
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“Kickstarter campaigns are a risk. Everyone knows that.”
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Well, no, not everyone. My 80-year-old Mother-in-law doesn’t know that. Y’know why? She’s backed exactly one project — mine — and that project featured plenty of communication and actually delivered. So, no, not everyone knows that.
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But even if that were the case, is that any reason for folks who were deliberately misled and misinformed and who have not received any communication in nearly six months just let it happen?
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There’s a saying: “No harm, no foul” which sort of echoes your sentiment. Except that there was harm. Each one of 388 people were harmed financially and in some cases emotionally (Sorry kids, no Mineserver *again* this year.)
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Yes there is risk and, had Crookely just come clean and said “sorry guys, we just couldn’t make it work”, many of us would have said “Bummer. Okay.” and moved on. But he didn’t. So here we are.
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“Move on.”
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Feel free to take your own advice.
Roger,
As a superbacker you DO know Kickstarter projects involve risk. You’ve invested in at least one previous failure that was contentious.
Using your mother-in-law as an example of someone who doesn’t know the risks of Kickstarter is more than a bit disingenuous.
Your own kickstarter was a low risk endeavour: a lego chess set with 42 backers. I think it’s a great exercise to learn about kickstarter but I don’t think you should overstate the experience you gained from it. I know someone who’s kickstarter involved plastic injection done in China… which is another few levels of complexity despite having been a very simple product. It could’ve easily been derailed in any number of ways and it’s only afterwards that he realized the true risks involved. I can’t think of many ways your kickstarter could have failed.
With hindsight I’m sure Bob’s sons would agree they should have considered something similar to yours as a first kickstarter.
I do agree with you that there should be better communication on Bob’s part but to assume the worst, resort to name calling and continue this vendetta is looking bad on you.
Just my 2 cents.
I’m not a backer, but very well could have been if he were making something like a umpc. Bob needs to address the issue somewhere in some form, not continue to ignore it. He didn’t just do a kickstarter, he promoted it here, leaving no doubt as to its state of completion, even including a promised ship date.
“As a superbacker you DO know Kickstarter projects involve risk. You’ve invested in at least one previous failure that was contentious.”
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More than one, actually. Znaps. G-Stick. Sum Wars. Animusic 3. Your point is?
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I’ve also backed projects that *didn’t* go as planned that I’m not upset about. Ones where the project creator kept in touch, was transparent about what was going on, and who didn’t just fade into the background.
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“Using your mother-in-law as an example of someone who doesn’t know the risks of Kickstarter is more than a bit disingenuous.”
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Really? How? She backed the project based on the reputation of the creator. Yeah, the fact that I’m her son-in-law made it pretty clear it was a safe bet, but that’s beside the point. My point is that she doesn’t understand the risks of Kickstarter. So, no, not “Everyone knows that.”
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“Your own kickstarter was a low risk endeavour … I can’t think of many ways your kickstarter could have failed.”
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Again, how is that relevant? The fact is, that even with my relatively simple project, I did deliver t-shirts late. (And, for the record, stuff happened at that time that is still turning my life upside down and my wife could have easily said “quit futzing around with that and deal with this other, far more important stuff.” And, had I been dishonest and unethical like Crookely, I could have done that. But, I’m not and I didn’t. I kept backers aware that stuff was happening and that I would do my best and eventually got everyone their rewards.)
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Had your friend encountered some unsurmountable obstacles, do you think he would have just walked away and left his backers hanging? I don’t know; I don’t know him. But if he did, would you still want to be friends with him?
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Note: I also backed DoubleSix dice, a project that didn’t go as planned and ran into a lot of difficulties. It was extremely late and the finished products were not of a quality anyone was hoping for. And yet, I’ve backed another project simply because the creator of that project was helping out. Why? Because he was honest and upfront about every issue he encountered and kept us backers in the loop. So instead of picking up our torches and pitchforks, we were rooting for him.
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“With hindsight I’m sure Bob’s sons would agree they should have considered something similar to yours as a first kickstarter.”
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See, here’s the thing. Crookely stated from the beginning that, other than cases, the Mineservers were ready to ship. He repeated that subsequently and several times promised to do better at communicating. So it shouldn’t have been, based on what he wrote, any more difficult *at that point* than my project.
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“I do agree with you that there should be better communication on Bob’s part but to assume the worst, resort to name calling and continue this vendetta is looking bad on you.”
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The thing is, Crookely fancies himself a writer. Writing is what he does. How hard can it possibly be for him to write a quick note? Heck, it wouldn’t even have to be as much as I’ve written here. So, yeah.
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Lastly, I don’t care if I look bad. The only people whose opinion I care about is my wife and kids and a handful of close friends. So, everyone else is free to think of me as a fat, ugly, blowhard with a bad fashion sense. And I’m fine with that.
@Michael to maimed drunk-driver victim: Don’t testify against him. Driving on public streets is a risk. Everyone knows that. Move on.
I see this troll knows how to dox. Since I’m giving my real name and email address, the typical next step for a troll is to spread the pain.
How did you get the 35452? 99*360 = 35640. 99*388= 38412.
@MikeN There were different levels of support that people could sign up for. It wasn’t a flat fee of $99 for all 388 backers. I pulled the value directly from the KickStarter site:
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“388 backers pledged $35,452 to help bring this project to life.”
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If you go to the campaign tab you can see that:
* 100 individuals got the product for $59 = $5,900
* 99 got it for $69 = $6,801
* 100 got it for $79 = $7,900
* 20 got it for $89 = $1,780
* 4 got it for $99 = $396
* 1 got it for $109 = $109
* 47 got it for $179 = $8,413
* 5 got it for $199 = $995
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What’s weird is that this only equals $32,294 but I’m guessing this is because you can “donate” more money but still only choose x tier reward. So likely the remaining $3,158 came from that is my guess. Hope that helps to clarify it.
Does Bob live in a tree? That address points to not much on Google Maps.
Turn on satellite view and you’ll see a dirt driveway very close to the coordinate marker. Down that dirt driveway a bit I see a house. I’m guessing that’s it.
Ok, I see it now. That’s really the boondocks. Must be a heck of a drive taking his kids to school.
I live in SR. It’s not really that far out of town, only about 15 min to the nearest schools, shopping, etc.
“It should be no surprise, then, that Republicans — having been caught flat-footed for two Presidential election cycles — made technical advances of their own in 2016.” You mean the Republican party that was trying to sabotage the guy who mopped the floor with its designated insiders and then flattened the felonious harridan the other guys nominated? Please …
You mean the Democratic Party that bullied and sabotaged the campaign of their own populist candidate who addressed real issues that the their corporate globalist “annointed” Democratic candidate wouldn’t touch? You mean the Democratic Party that used their own corrupt public relations / campaign arm (also known as the mainstream media) to secretly feed them debate questions beforehand to make themselves win by any means necessary? You mean the Democratic Party that did all it could to sabotage the incoming administration by changing the rules (two weeks before the end of their term) to allow top-secret intelligence information collected on Republican executives to be distributed to over a dozen new government agencies run by Democrats so that it could be (and was) illegally leaked to the Democratic committee known as the mainstream media….and then hushed up and refused to be reported on by that same media?
Please….enough with the “bad Republicans did this…or, for that matter, the bad Democrats did that. We could all go on with this in both directions all day long. We don’t need the same finger-pointing rhetoric. Take the red pill already and leave your artificial/phony world.
The Republicans are learning and have now appointed Kris Kobach to “investigate” voter fraud – this is the guy who, prior to the last election, masterminded a purge of over a million voters for the electoral rolls.
This is old news. And debunked too.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/03/cambridge-analytica-bingo.html
Lesson: Always be skeptical.
That is not even close to a debunking. It barely even passes the bar of coherent. It posits a few thoughts that the processes used are not effective however it does not to rebut the millions paid or the web of relationships.
“Now if they’d only try to win our votes with kindness.”
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You mean like you’ve done via Kickstarter? How kind of you is it to ignore the people who gave you their hard-earned money? Are you really any different? (Hint: I think not.)
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You ask for kindness but you don’t give it.
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I know what hypocrisy looks like. It looks like the guy in the picture at the top of the page.
You’re just nuts.
The risk that a project won’t work is core to Kickstarter. It’s fun to root for your team, but only if loss is possible. Stop pretending you don’t know that. Get a life.
If you don’t want risk, you want Amazon, not Kickstarter. But you knew that, too.
Shut up already.
It’s not about Kickstarter, it’s about Bob’s credibility, and lack of communication.
“You’re just nuts.”
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Ah, you know me so well!
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“The risk that a project won’t work is core to Kickstarter. It’s fun to root for your team, but only if loss is possible. Stop pretending you don’t know that.”
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Oh, I’m well aware of that. It’s not that Crookely can’t produce what he set out to do (despite saying from day one that, other than cases, the Mineservers were ready to ship), it’s that he has basically walked away without so much as a how-do-you-do. He’s a bloody writer, fer cryin’ out loud. He can’t take five minutes and write up what went wrong and apologize?
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“Get a life.”
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Got a very nice one, thank you. Wanna see a video of my son tap dancing? Wanna read my daughter’s award winning short story? Wanna hear about my activism?
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“Shut up already.”
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Likewise, I’m sure. Also, no.
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Re: “Big Data decided both races”. Unless I missed something, the electoral process is the same now as it was 50+ years ago, when “big data” didn’t even exist. People voted their conscience, based on all available information, especially upon the political platforms, and their history.
Maybe its time for truth or consequences about this mineservers fiasco. I can sympathize with the disappointed backers, up to a point. However, repeated claims that tarnish someone’s reputation need to be supported by some semblance of proof. So far, all we have heard is one unproven claim after another unproven claim.
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So here we go:
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1. Claim – Cringely lied and cheated the backers of his mineservers project. Reality – There has been no proof offered to support this claim. It is possible, of course, that Cringely was lacking in his due diligence concerning this project. That is neither a lie nor a crime. It may only reflect poorly on Cringely’s judgment.
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2. Claim – It was wrong of Cringely to use his children as the front people for the project. Reality – I have to agree with this claim. Apparently, the rules of KickStarter require projects to be run by adults.
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3. Claim – Cringely should refund the money to the backers. Reality – Does anyone know if there is any money left? I wouldn’t be surprised if Cringely had to use some of his own money on this deal. Besides which, I don’t believe there is any guarantee that any particular KickStarter project will be successful.
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4. Claim – The least that Cringely can do is explain what happened to cause the problems. After all, there is no reason why he cannot comment on this problem. Reality – There may be some legitimate reason for his silence, such as a legal problem. Do I know this for a fact? No, of course not. Maybe he is just totally embarrassed about this whole mess. I do not know the nature of the problem.
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5. Claim – Those people who want to read Cringely’s comments without all the interference from the disappointed backers should just go away. Reality – No, it is the disappointed backers who should just go away. What right do they have to inflict their problems on other people? None, of course.
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6. Claim – Those people who just want to read Cringely’s comments in peace are supporting him in his crimes. Reality – What total nonsense! Those disappointed backers have offered no proof for any crimes. Cringely may not have followed the rules of KickStarter by using his children as front people. But that is a matter between him and the organizers of KickStarter.
“There may be some legitimate reason for his silence, such as a legal problem. Do I know this for a fact? No, of course not. Maybe he is just totally embarrassed about this whole mess. I do not know the nature of the problem.”
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The fact that he has the mineserver dot commie website up (don’t want to get spamblocked for a url) indicates that this is highly unlikely. That is one thing he can completely control and any lawyer would advise him to do so immediately. Instead it’s still set up, complete with WooCommerce software installed for taking orders.
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Cringely isn’t commenting because he is choosing not to.
1. Claim – Cringely lied and cheated the backers of his mineservers project.
Agree this claim is unproven (and probably false), which is why I and most commenters have not claimed it. I and others have claimed that Bob’s clearly irresponsible behavior has given the project the appearances of a scam, which I think is hard to deny at this point.
2. Claim – It was wrong of Cringely to use his children as the front people for the project.
It was reportedly their project to begin with and if that’s true I don’t see a problem with having them up front per se. But legally and ethically the parents are ultimately responsible and many of us believe that publicly shirking that responsibility sets a poor example for the children.
3. Claim – Cringely should refund the money to the backers.
I don’t see a lot of people making this unrealistic demand. Much more common is the much more realistic and reasonable request that he ship what he’s got in whatever state it’s in (it was claimed to have been hardware-complete sans cases from day one).
4. Claim – The least that Cringely can do is explain what happened to cause the problems.
I wholeheartedly agree with this claim. Any excuses by others for him not doing so are based on pure speculation and lack credibility. Cringely couldn’t even be bothered to respond “blink” in comments to indicate that he is legally bound from public comments on the subject when requested multiple times before he quit commenting altogether.
5. Claim – Those people who want to read Cringely’s comments without all the interference from the disappointed backers should just go away.
Who has said that? Did they initiate it or was it in response to a demand for them to go away (or worse: “Take the gas pipe already and spare us any more of your ridiculous kvetching”)? Commenters irritated with others over their Miner-Server comments are as free to come and go as the rest of us, and there’s nothing wrong with pointing that out when asked to leave by other guests.
“No, it is the disappointed backers who should just go away. What right do they have to inflict their problems on other people?”
By God, I have as much right to say anything I want here as you do. If you don’t like it you can ignore my comments, complain to the host (let us know how that goes), go away yourself, or any number of things but one thing you can’t do with any shred of credibility is deny my right to say it here while claiming your right to speak your mind in the same forum as guests.
6. Claim – Those people who just want to read Cringely’s comments in peace are supporting him in his crimes.
Again, I think you’re overstating the claim. People generally know they should take care against making public accusations of crime which they can’t prove, lest they find themselves in legal jeopardy, and for the most part that’s what I’ve seen here. I’ve also seen comments pretty supportive of irresponsible behavior which I and others have called out, and I intend to continue doing that.
Freeman,
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Every claim I listed has been made on this site by disappointed backers or their sympathizers. I can’t help it if you haven’t noticed them. By God, you certainly have a right to be as big a pest to other people as you can. But I have as yet failed to see any proof of anything except bad judgment by Cringely. And I have seen repeated evidence of contempt for other people’s quiet enjoyment of this site by the disappointed backers who want to spread their misery as far and wide as possible.
I acknowledged every one of your listed claims so it’s a mystery where you got the notion that I hadn’t noticed any examples of them. What I said was that most of them represent a small minority and grossly misrepresent the points that the majority of backers and their supporters are making. You said “So far, all we have heard is one unproven claim after another unproven claim”. I felt compelled to fill in a few blanks in your depiction of the situation because you seemed to leave a great deal of what’s important to many of us out of it all. If we’re going to talk about truth it ought to be the whole truth. But if you think it’s fair to be associated with comments like the one I quoted above just because some other Cringely supporter said it, by all means paint the rest of us with your litany of Claims.
I’m not trying to be a pest but your side isn’t the only one that finds some of the other side annoying. Having researched the issue in depth, as I see it disappointed backers aren’t here to spread misery but to protest an injustice at the gates of the one who holds power over any sort of resolution, having exhausted all other reasonable options. They literally have nowhere else to go, and I’m not going to look down my nose at them for that.
I’m also not willing to hold other people’s quiet enjoyment of this site higher in importance to the lack of accountability of it’s host after having solicited over $35k from his audience and failed to deliver on promise after promise without explanation.
@Charles Moorehead Finding one (or two) claims out of 388 does not a trend/majority make. Just because you can find a few people making outrageous claims/demands does not mean that all of us take that stance. As Freeman said, if that were the case we could easily lump you in with the anti semitic comment he quoted above, which I’d like to think is not an opinion you share. That is from me taking the time to read and sift through the comments for the truth and not lumping anyone in any category and claiming it to be what the majority believes.
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I appreciate your attempt to list the claims and facts, unfortunately I question both on your list and don’t believe they are the true majority. For the sake of clarity for your purposes, I personally did not contribute to the MineServer but had a friend who did and I was looking forward to partaking in it with him when/if he received it, so while I did not have a direct invested interest, I did have a sort of interest in it coming to fruition. Here are my thoughts on your claims:
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1. Claim – Cringely lied and cheated the backers of his mineservers project.
Reality – I personally do not think this is the case. I think he bit off more than he could chew and the backend of this project was more daunting than he realized. He also admitted to running into multiple snags with software/hardware/and personnel.
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2. Claim – It was wrong of Cringely to use his children as the front people for the project.
Reality – I don’t mind him using his children on the video, but he claimed it was their project and yet was the only one to ever communicate any portion of the project publicly, so I would argue he should have been consistent and involved them, or his initial messaging should have been different.
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3. Claim – Cringely should refund the money to the backers.
Reality – I know that my friend does not want/expect a refund. He doesn’t even want the hardware from Cringely, as I can imagine shipping 388 useless pieces of hardware is a cost he doesn’t want to shoulder, and I’m okay with that. If the project failed, it failed, no one should expect a refund or the hunk of junk that remains out of principle. I agree that THIS is par for the course with KickStarter and I don’t expect an exception here.
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4. Claim – The least that Cringely can do is explain what happened to cause the problems. After all, there is no reason why he cannot comment on this problem.
Reality – This I think goes hand in hand with #3. Because while I don’t think the backers are entitled to a refund or the hardware they paid for. I DO think they are owed some sort of a response. I don’t think you can fairly say they should not be afforded either. I think it should be one or the other. I should clarify before anyone attacks my word that I don’t believe this is anyone’s right or is what will/needs to happen, I simply believe it’s what SHOULD happen. As a person who demands respect, I think it’s the most respectful thing Cringely could do in this instance and what any decent person should strive to do. But that is just my personal opinion and I know there are all sorts of mindsets out there.
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5. Claim – Those people who want to read Cringely’s comments without all the interference from the disappointed backers should just go away.
Reality – I don’t believe they should go away. If they want to read Cringely’s blog or comments, they are welcome to. It’s what they come here for and what they expect, and that’s fine. What I don’t agree with (and what’s not listed here) is the alternative of this that those who have a complaint with Cringely should take their comments/complaints elsewhere and leave the integrity of the blog intact. I personally have seen that the proper location for people to complain (the Kickstarter site) has been met with zero response. People who commented here HAVE received a response, albeit very minimal, from Cringely.
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Additionally, as much as it’s not good social conduct, the fact that there is a civil war happening currently is the best means of getting Cringely to step in and speak up and put a stop to this. He literally could end this war in a matter of hours/days but instead has allowed it to rage on for months. I will admit that BOTH sides are at fault for things they have done/said, but it’s one of those weird cases where we’re fighting amongst each other where there really is only one enemy and that person is Cringely simply because he’s ignoring you all in your plight to have your old blog back and he’s ignoring the backers who feel miffed.
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I admit that this is likely the most hotly contested opinion and people will likely disagree with it, but I’m going to once again state that this is simply my personal opinion and you are welcome to your own. Ideally we can meet somewhere in the middle and see the truth of the matter without personal bias.
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6. Claim – Those people who just want to read Cringely’s comments in peace are supporting him in his crimes.
Reality – I don’t believe this either. This is a blanket statement and lumps many innocents into a war they didn’t sign up for. I think the people who have taken the time to research what happened/is happening (which isn’t a large group from what I can surmise) and still take Cringely’s defense lack empathy is all. I personally could not stand by and see something like this unfold and still support the person without fail. I am not saying that I would throw Cringely under the bus if I were a supporter of his previously, but I would likely take a stance closer to Ronc’s – someone who speculates what is happening after reading the facts and calls it to question and simply asks Cringely to speak up on the matter. I don’t think that’s asking too much and is what any logical personal, separating out emotions and personal bias, should do. But once again, all just my personal opinion.
@Charles Moorehead:
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How’s this for truth or consequences?:
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Claim: Mark Stephens aka Robert X Cringely is known to make false statements in his efforts at self-promotion.
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Documented
Freeman,
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Not much.
Well at least we know the failed Miner-Server project, originally billed as a way to pay for the kids’ college education, won’t be necessary since history has shown that they can claim a Stanford PhD with impunity to launch their careers, just like dear ol’ Dad.
Except we have some evidence to evaluate the claims: Cringely’s silence on the matter after posting enthusiastically before. He said update coming in a few weeks then went silent. If there are legal issues, he could post I can’t comment due to legal issues. So we have that as evidence, countered by the fact that he is not deleting adverse posts.
MikeN,
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The only evidence I see is that Cringely apparently encountered some unexpected problems. And he has never felt the need or had the legal ability to explain these problems. Gee, I guess the only fair thing to do is to lynch him.
Actually, it’s part of the Kickstarter contract to do exactly what you’re trying to argue he never felt the need to do. Why defend irresponsibility? What’s in it for you?
To all the disappointed mineserver backers,
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To my knowledge, I have never defended Cringely. Apparently some people believe that if you’re not with them then you must be with the enemy. I’m not with any side. I just like to stick with reality most of the time. I find that method usually gives the best results in life.
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But if some people want to beat their heads against the wall continually, ignoring all common sense, who am I to try to stop them? So go right ahead with all your hopeless complaints.
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This is my last comment on the mineserver fiasco.
” I just like to stick with reality most of the time. I find that method usually gives the best results in life.”
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You mean like this?
“Gee, I guess the only fair thing to do is to lynch him.”
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You were hyperventilating there for a bit, Charles. Looks like you found a paper bag and recovered. Hope you’re feeling better now.
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And just FYI: making lame excuses for someone else’s behavior that others are criticizing is considered by most people a form of coming to that person’s defense. Sorry for any confusion you might have experienced over my use of the term.
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My overarching point here is that your complaints are hopeless too, and for the same reasons.
Freeman,
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You must have led a very sheltered life. There is a concept known as “satire”…
Yes, and another one known as ‘sarcasm’.
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Cheers!
What evidence do you have that he encountered unexpected problems? What evidence do you have of legal issues?
I wonder if using the “created by: Mineserver LLC” brought legal problems?
For another interesting Kickstarter failure check out the PeachyPrinter … including indiegogo etc., over a million down the tubes… due to embezzlement. A few angry $100+ backers there too.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117421627/the-peachy-printer-the-first-100-3d-printer-and-sc
“1. Claim – Cringely lied and cheated the backers of his mineservers project.”
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In the project description (written prior to the launch of the project), Crookely wrote: “The result is that, unlike many Kickstarter hardware projects, for the $99 Mineserver™ virtually all development work is already done so risks are minimized. If we had cases we could start shipping tomorrow.”
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Subsequently, there were many more claims that the Mineservers would be shipping shortly.
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I don’t know if that constitutes lying and/or cheating, but given the lack of communication, it’s hard to come up with another explanation.
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“2. Claim – It was wrong of Cringely to use his children as the front people for the project.”
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I disagree with this — if it truly was the kids’ idea/project/effort, there’s no reason not to put their names & faces on it. They aren’t the first kids to run a a project — https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeborn/the-no-spill-kangaroo-cup — and they won’t be the last.
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What is fact, however, is that, ultimately, Crookely, not his kids, is responsible.
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“3. Claim – Cringely should refund the money to the backers.”
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I doubt there is any money left. Certainly not enough to warrant refunding it. And, no, there is not guarantee on Kickstarter projects. If you want a guarantee, go to Amazon.
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“4. Claim – The least that Cringely can do is explain what happened to cause the problems.”
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Actually, the least he can do is what he *has* been doing: nothing.
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“Reality – There may be some legitimate reason for his silence, such as a legal problem.”
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There might be, but he could certainly post an update saying “Things are happening; I can’t talk about it right now.”
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“Maybe he is just totally embarrassed about this whole mess.”
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Perhaps. I think everyone knows how hard it is to admit you’ve screwed up; more so in such a public way. But that’s what grown-ups do.
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“5. Claim – Those people who want to read Cringely’s comments without all the interference from the disappointed backers should just go away.”
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Actually, they’re welcome to stick around and if they really don’t like wading through the Mineserver comments, they could always complain to the site owner.
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“Reality – No, it is the disappointed backers who should just go away. What right do they have to inflict their problems on other people? None, of course.”
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No one is forcing anyone to read these comments. Mineserver backers have just as much right as anyone else to comment here.
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“6. Claim – Those people who just want to read Cringely’s comments in peace are supporting him in his crimes.”
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This is a difficult question. I have a DVD of _Bill Cosby, Himself_. It’s absolutely hilarious. But will I let my kids watch it? No, because of what a hideous person he turned out to be in real life.
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One of the definitive references for coin collectors is _Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins_. But Breen is a convicted sex offender. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_H._Breen) If one of my kids got interested in numismatics, would I buy them a copy? I’m not sure I would.
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Assuming that the allegations of Crookely’s misconduct are true, should one still visit his website and read his articles? Tough call. I think that decision is up to each person to make on their own and I won’t fault anyone either way.
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But, at the very least, they should make that decision knowingly.
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Hey Cringely! Seriously, my kids would like to know where their MineServer is…they got new laptops over the holidays…what should I tell them? Would like the official word, out of the horse’s mouth…
@Johnathan- you are listening to the wrong end of the horse
You’re money’s gone, time to follow the stated process of loss, shock,denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
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I see we are still in the anger phase, although I’ve seen smattering attempts at bargaining so some progress has been made, when y’all have hit acceptance and if your burning need for minecraft still exists perhaps roll your own?
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http://picraftbukkit.webs.com/pi-minecraft-server-how-to
So over this Kickstarter thing. Move on or take your complaints to Kickstarter and Cringely through whatever legal channels exist. This is a blog and I and many others come here to read informed comment on the subjects raised. You’re just clogging up the airwaves with shrill ‘I was ripped of crap’. $75 of clearly stated risk!
Yes, Move On.
I intend to continue commenting on the “Kickstarter thing”. I have no intention of moving on until Cringely mans up and addresses it.
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Your move.
Shame. Waste of space…
You’ve as much right to voice your opinion here as I, so have at it. But I can’t help but notice that so far you haven’t left any “informed comment on the subjects raised” in Bob’s article yourself, choosing instead to comment exclusively on “this Kickstarter thing” like those you criticize. Isn’t that also a shameful waste of space?
These comments are informative. If Cringely is lying about the subject he knows firsthand, then how much credibility can be given to his statements on the subject of the current post?
“So over this Kickstarter thing. Move on or take your complaints to Kickstarter and Cringely through whatever legal channels exist. This is a blog and I and many others come here to read informed comment on the subjects raised. You’re just clogging up the airwaves with shrill ‘I was ripped of crap’. $75 of clearly stated risk!”
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There have been many websites over the years that went from being useful and popular to clogged with ads and abandoned. Perhaps that is what is happening here. This might have been, at one time, a useful forum for discussing technology-related topics but it seems now that it has devolved into the Mineserver complaint department.
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Ah, sigh.
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“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”
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Bummer. Sucks to be you.
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“Yes, Move On.”
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Uh, no.
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Another failed conspiracy theory by Cringely, to go with his Microsoft money laundering and so many others.
Barack Obama did more than a little bit of social media. Their campaign team claims to know the name of each and every one of the 70 million people who voted for him. There is a paper about it, called Catalist. They have a science behind it, saying that 12 in person visits will produce a new voter, and that the initial visit is 95% accurate in determining whether additional visits can be useful in persuading someone. They also determine which type of language is most useful in fundraising requests and how often they should send them(many times a day). They have a database on every voter and resident with dozens of fields on each person including which political issues are important and what they purchase and make pitches accordingly.
For all that, it appears to be just an Iphone updated version of what George W Bush did. Anecdotally, Romney’s campaign has been described as well behind in turnout operation by comparison, while Bush’s offices were very active.
For the one user who does not understand Kickstarter, it is about taking a chance on a new product under development.
From the Kickstarter site: (https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter+basics?ref=footer)
Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator’s ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it.
Backers must understand that Kickstarter is not a store. When you back a project, you’re helping to create something new — not ordering something that already exists. There’s a chance something could happen that prevents the creator from being able to finish the project as promised.
If you really need a Minecraft server, any Betty Crocker (able to follow directions), can build one for about $75 or less using a Raspberry PI (see https://minecraft.net/en-us/edition/pi/)
I am not one of the backers. However, based on what I read here, I decided that the project was valid and it is a good product. Now I see from comments that what I read here then is bogus and Cringely was lying. So now I can conclude that he is lying on other subjects as well.
Kickstarter is a risk. However, Cringely’s actions were not limited to Kickstarter. Someone can sue for fraud based on what he posted here. This is where he posted that everything was done and he just needed some cases.
For the one user who does not understand Kickstarter, it is about taking a chance on a new product under development.
From the Kickstarter site: (https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter+basics?ref=footer)
Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator’s ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it.
Backers must understand that Kickstarter is not a store. When you back a project, you’re helping to create something new — not ordering something that already exists. There’s a chance something could happen that prevents the creator from being able to finish the project as promised.
If you really need a Minecraft server, any Betty Crocker (able to follow directions), can build one for about $75 or less using a Raspberry PI (see https://minecraft.net/en-us/edition/pi/)
I’d like to make a few corrections to some of the typographical errors in Cringely’s article
1) “Events happen so quickly in the wacky whirlwind world of Donald Trump that it’s hard to react in anything close to real time….”
Correction: “Events happen so quickly in the wacky whirlwind world of the liberal Democrat / media /entertainment complex’s coordinated and biased disinformation campaign against Donald Trump that it’s hard to react in anything close to real time…..”
2) “The Great British Brexit Robbery: How our Democracy was Hijacked….”
Correction: “The Great British Brexit Robbery: How the people of Britain managed to fight well enough to take back their Democracy to benefit the citizens of the country rather than the moneyed global elite interests…..”
3) “Election shenanigans aside……”
Correction: “Illegal voting of undocumented persons, almost all of whom voted for Hillary.”
and
“Time and money wasting re-counts undertaken in an attempt to discredit Trump’s victory……”
Not trying to be partisan towards one side or the other, but if you’re gonna give one side of the story you gotta give the other…….
I saw the Guardian story too. I’ve been researching this subject for several years. In 2007 I spent several months recovering from foot surgery. To keep my mind occupied I decided to research the presidential candidates. It took time by I was able to find the original sources of information on what they said and did. What I learned alarmed me. It frightened me. What we know about our candidates from either political party is over 95% fiction. Both sides create an “image” of a candidate and then use any thing they can find to support that image. Quotes, voting records, anything, everything is taken out of context, sometimes horribly out of context. It is almost all a fabrication. Once you realize this how is the voting public supposed to make an informed decision?
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Important point 95% of what you think you know about your choice of candidates is fiction, a fabrication.
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Big data and social networking has made a very bad situation massively worse. A new term entered the election process in the last year, fake news. It is trivially easy to create stories that seem true, but are not. They are specifically designed to tweak our perceptions on a candidate or issue. Bob’s analogy “political arms race” is appropriate.
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I am a USA citizen and have been following Brexit. I have come to the belief if the people of the UK were fully and factually informed and most of the voters voted, the outcome would have been different. Equally troubling is some in the EU’s reaction to Brexit. The EU is an amazing accomplishment but like any organization created by humans it has faults. There are concerns about the EU that were voiced by the Brexit issue. The EU is ignoring this feedback and I fear many of the EU’s leaders are reacting on perception too. Those intent on hurting the UK have forgotten what make the EU work and great.
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We could be entering a dangerous time in our human evolution. This is a problem we need to overcome. Thanks Bob for starting the conversation.
It’s interesting to see smart people look for answers in tea leaves or big data. Trvth is, the D party had a great candidate – Bernie Sanders. They folks at the top didn’t think he’d get elected by the largest party in the US – Independent.
HRC has a good record and is a smart person, but people wanted change. Bernie or Donald represented change – since Bernie was removed, folks either stayed home or voted for Trump. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct answer. Not sure about the UK, but I’d guess it’s much the same over there too.
The real problem is automation and it’s not really getting much coverage, just the usual ‘blame the _____’ Maybe UBI and a shorter work week are what’s needed. The future = HUMANS need not apply! Politicians of all sides are going to have to address this issue soon.
Bernie Sanders is an ignorant, lunatic Communist. He’d be about as successful as Maduro has been in Venezuela, and for the same reasons. Wrong about everything, and unteachable.
HRottenC’s record is an unbroken string of political failures, along with endless deceit, constant grifting and multiple felonies. Including a few capital crimes.
Trump’s a wild man, but he’s the only one who promised to drain the swamp.
Although one is entitled to have righteous anger over losing $75 it is doubtful that the continuous expression of this anger will lead to anything more than righteous resistance.
There is a saying about continuing to do something that always brings the same results while expecting a different result.
Can small claims court be used for fraud cases? You can’t sue for breach of contract because Kickstarter.
‘There is a saying about continuing to do something that always brings the same results while expecting a different result.”
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And yet many people here still seem to think they can get the Miner-Server protesters to go away by declaring the futility of the protest, or ridiculing and insulting the protesters. It doesn’t seem to be working despite repeated efforts. I believe what we have here is known as an “impasse”.
“Election shenanigans aside,”
Way to miss the point.
Its a big deal when Trump used it because he used hatred to drive people to vote for him.
As opposed to Obama who ran ads of Paul Ryan pushing a woman in a wheelchair down stairs, had a man accuse Mitt Romney of killing his wife, and said Mitt Romney, He’s Not One Of Us.
@MikeN – You are conflating two separate issues. Comments made directly by a candidate and/or their campaign and comments that are made by outside organizations that are in favor of a candidate. Candidates have no control over what outside organizations say in their favor.
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Trump made hateful statements (and nicknames) a part of his campaign and rallies. He also made his debut in politics with the “birther” charge which was all about Obama being an “other”. He has never fully apologized for his actions.
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Obama did run a campaign ad about Romney not being one of us. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/331040/obama-ad-mitt-romney-hes-not-one-us-charles-c-w-cooke
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The ad where a laid off employee that lost helath insurance blamed Romney for his wife’s death was by an outside PAC. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/09/priorities-usa-action/pro-obama-group-blames-romney-womans-death/
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The ad where a Ryan look alike pushed an old lady off a cliff (and not down stairs) was also done by an outside PAC https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/grandma-thrown-cliff-paul-ryan-lookalike-anti-gop-medicare-ad-made-agenda-project-article-1.145086
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If you are going to judge a candidate by ad campaigns run by outside groups, then you should also judge Trump by the content of radical alt-right groups. Or at least get your facts straight.
Candidates have no control in theory under the law, but even that is not true. Apparently campaigns can fundraise on behalf of superPACs directly. The Wikileaks DNC e-mails revealed their scripts for this. They’re allowed to say one thing but not another. Trump was castigated by the campaign experts that he hadn’t designated a preferred superPAC, again seemingly violating the spirit of the law, but all the campaign guys thought it was routine.
The guy whose wife died of cancer was introduced to the media directly by the campaign.
@MikeN – you are still conflating what someone in a “campaign” does with direct statements by a candidate. Trump conducted the most dividing campaign in recent history (while there a historical campaigns that were worse, they are mostly over 100 years ago).
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Trump didn’t set up a super PAC since he was still promoting the illusion that he was paying for everything out of his own pocket. While he did contribute a lot, it was only a fraction of what he raised and spent, http://fortune.com/2016/12/09/donald-trump-campaign-spending/
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You might also note that I have included sources not just my opinions.
Yea, Trump did the heavy lifting himself, while Obama had minions doing it while he talked about ‘the folks’.
Bindallı modelleri günümüzde çoğunlukla kına gecelerinde tercih edilmesinden dolayı gelin adayları tarafından genelde kiralık olarak tercih edilmektedir. Bindallı kaftan olarak düğün kıyafetleri, gelinlik ve kına malzemesi satan yerlerin neredeyse hepsinde ayrıca internet mağazalarında da bulunmaktadır. Bu mağazalarda kiralık bindallı modellerinden istediğinizi beğenip satın alma fiyatının neredeyse yarısına kiralayıp, işiniz bittikten sonra temizlenmiş paketli bir şekilde teslim etmeniz gerekmektedir. Bindallı modelleri kiralık olarak tercih edildiğinde mağazalara göre değişmekle birlikte genelde standarttır ve üzerine oynama yapılmasına (kısaltma, daraltma) izin verilmez. Ancak bu durumun yaratmış olduğu sıkıntıdan dolayı bazı mağaza sahipleri kira fiyatından ufak bir fark alarak tadilata izin vermektedir. Kiralık kaftan fiyatları il bazında değişmektedir.
http://bagdatkaftan.com/kaftanlar/
Good luck with draining that swamp. Putin is on 3rd term and still patiently rolling back the damage.
The Mineserver comments used to bug me, but at this point I think it reflects much more on Bob than on his victims. As far as I can tell, no one expects the server or a refund, they just want closure and that seems reasonable. As far as whether or not this is the appropriate forum. Well, he advertised his Kickstarter here, so he started it. I’m just shocked that he hasn’t found the time to type a quick paragraph and make it go away.
It’s one of the great mysteries of our time. My latest theory that I have which is mine, is that he’s busting a Fred Phelps move, trying to incite his victims into doing something he can sue them for.
Bob,
The political war has engaged a new technology base for warfare. Kind of a merger between community activism, organized mayhem, local mafia muscle and social networking. The left has started a new campaign of “resistance” (trying to tug at the hearts, minds and pockets of the 1960’s boomers) and its centered around a web site called http://www.indivisibleguide.com which will act like a coordinator and funnel for all anti-Trump and leftist activities. There are already reports of clashes between indivisible resistance workers and right wing groups in some of the Atlantic states and the Northeast because they are trying to force themselves uninvited into meetings and other functions, no matter what organization is holding it, right, middle, technological or left..
I’m afraid civil violence may not be far away, which might be the left’s objective anyway.
The educational system has ONE job: to turn out people who are totally impervious to this kind of manipulation. As long as it works, good outcomes are absolutely excluded.
It wasn’t voter targeting. Technologically has reached a paradigm shift with crowd sourcing facts. The mainstream media is no longer the purveyor of propaganda. The truth is no longer out of the reach of anyone that wants to know it. And when any logical individual knows the truth, they see the disaster that is our current political class. People are tired of being lied to over and over again, and then using the same tired talking points every election cycle, and watching government grow and grow, only to make the politicians more and more powerful to the point that our laws no longer mean anything. That’s why Trump was elected. We see right now the entrenched political class fighting for their political lives because they see the writing on the wall that their million dollar money making pyramid scheme is coming to and end. I say go Trump, clean the swamp!
>>We’ve been here before. Remember in 2008 Barack Obama was able to harness the Internet to raise huge amounts of money, breaking the traditional Republican fundraising advantage. The resulting massive Republican defeat, losing both houses of Congress and the Presidency, did not go unnoticed by party leaders.<<
Yes, Obama lied when he told McCain he would stick to the public financing limits, McCain stuck to them and BO raised all that money.
But, any Dem would have beaten McCain because the Bush family once again were in office when the economy collapsed. BO would have won even if he didn't lie to McCain about adhering to public financing limits. It was a wave election largely corrected in 2010.
2008: The voters were sick of the status quo. The lies, wars, and big business corruption of government were all promised to be fixed by Obama. Didn’t happen, but anyone who disagreed with Obama was immediately labeled as a racist.
2016: The voters are still are still sick of the status quo. That’s what got Trump elected. He’s done a few things that point to improvement, but I’d bet he will be a one term president. Can’t use the race card, so the results will speak.
Regarding kickstart: you spin the wheel, you take your chances. On the other hand, an honorable person would at least publicly admit defeat and let contributors off the hook of anticipation. Legal advice be damned.
Trump won because the DNC and the GOP insisted on fielding party apparatchiks for candidates that no one was particularly keen on, and the campaign, like that of the fiasco of last month’s UK General Election, descended into a hate campaign.
By apparatchik, I assume you mean “a blindly devoted official, follower, or member of an organization”. It seems to me the GOP did just the opposite in the case of Trump. In the case of Hillary, the other choice was an unelectable communist. At least she won the popular vote.
EDIT: Technical mistake.
LET’S MAKE TRUMP HUMBLE!!! Every whistleblower added to a network of Whistleblowers DOUBLES THE POWER OF THE NETWORK—EXPONTIALLY!! Let’s ALL go bandwidth-to-bandwidth on YouTube,TEDx or any social media video channel and show Trump that the American people can be counted on!