Received word late this afternoon via Twitter:

Brad Friedman ‏@TheBradBlog

RIP: The indefatigable critic of all things RW, @BartCop (est. 1996) has passed away. [….] 4:36 PM – 7 Mar 2014

If I recall correctly, my first ever blog post was on Bartcop’s site – an account of a small number of us picketing George W. Bush’s Dick Cheney’s photo-op at the U.S. Treasury Service Center in Kansas City in July 2001 (where they were printing the checks for dubya’s disastrous “tax rebate”). I sent my description of the event to Bartcop via e-mail. He replied, “This would be even better with photos, don’t you think?” I had to get the film developed and then scan the prints. A few days later the post was up.

In those good old days we used chisels and stone tablets. Times have changed.

If blogtopia had existed then to the extent it does now dubya’s cronies would have never been able to steal the 2000 presidential election.

Bartcop was among the very first. He definitely was an original.

Edit: That was a long time ago…