Public Still Googling, "Is Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga Gay?"

One reader of this blog expresses concern that I could be perceived as homophobic if I continue reporting that the public wants to know whether Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ) is gay or not, as I pointed out here and here and many other times.  As I said back in August of 2009,

I don't think anyone should "out" gays out of antagonism toward gays or a homophobic desire to embarrass gays. However, when public figures who are secretly gay make a public point and spectacle of denouncing gays publicly, while denying their own private and strong homosexual desires, and sometimes homesexual behavior, then I believe it is constructive to "out" such public figures."

I actually find it discouraging that so many people are interested in MAMZ's sexuality relative to the number of people interested in his self-professed connections to the US Central Intelligence Agency. However, this blog is called "Truth About Kos" because I report the truth, even when it does not directly support or contradict my hypotheses. Whether MAMZ is gay or not has little to do with whether he is infiltrating and distorting the leftist and pseudo-leftist blogosphere for the CIA. 

However, MAMZ's past statements in vehement opposition to ANY AND ALL gay participation in the US military are just one more aspect of his Republican past that make his present protestations of "leftism" seem absurdly incredible

I believe the public is capable of reading MAMZ lettera gainst all gay participation in the military (which letter  I researched, located and published, ) and the GBLT and heterosexual public can easily figure out who despises gays but fears that he, himself, has been insufficiently manly at times in his life.

Reporting what shows up on my Site Meter is not homophobic .  It's a recognition of the interest in MAMZ's sexuality in light of his past public statements.  I certainly hope that those who come here to discover whether he is gay will also discover his professed relationship to the CIA.

Many Truth About Kos Readers Find Sought-After Information

One gay blogger wrote that "Markos Moulitsas is a hypocritical jackass" for opposing gay rights and claiming to be a "liberal blogger."  As the editor and chief writer of the Truth About Kos blog, I watch the Site Meter regularly to find out what brings people to this blog and whether they are finding the information for which they are looking.  In many cases, people come to this blog after googling the phrase "gay Kos," simply because there is a gay island mecca in Greece by the name of "Kos".  Although those people visit the blog, they immediately leave because they are not getting the sought-after information about the gay-friendly Greek island mecca.



What I find much more rewarding is when people come to this blog after they Google "Kos + CIA," (with 982,000 relevant pages at Google) and those readers find exactly what they are seeking.  People also come to this blog after googling "Moulitsas + CIA" (23,000 relevant pages at Google).  They also visit after googling "DailyKos + CIA" (for which there are 711,000 relevant pages at Google).



Those who come here for that information find a treasure trove of background information about MAMZ, his family, and his family's political history, business assets and commercial interests in El Salvador. They also find a transcript of an audio speech in which MAMZ said that he "would have no problem working for the CIA in the present," AND in which he says that he spent two years in training with the CIA to become a "secret agent."

Apart from the gay mecca island of "Kos" in Greece, the Site Meter also tells me that many others come to this blog to find out whether MAMZ is gay (287,000 relevant hits at Google), which has become a persistent rumor, as this article explains and explores.  And while those visitors are disappointed to learn that I cannot tell them that Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga is gay, they DO find a letter and an article, both written by MAMZ himself, that cast serious doubt on MAMZ's own sense that he is enough of a "real man."



I wouldn't think that issue was relevant if MAMZ hadn't written a letter opposing ALL gay service in the US military, and then subsequently written an article in which he says that he joined the US Army in an attempt to become and to feel more like  a "real man."

Needless to say, there are literally billions of men, in the USA and elsewhere, who do not join the US Army and who nevertheless are able to feel like real men without that experience.  MAMZ tells us quite clearly that he is NOT one of the men who could feel like real man without joining the US Army.

What most provides me most pleasure and political vindication (after being banned from DailyKos for criticizing its virtually all-white readers and its owner) is when readers come here and spend five, ten or thirty minutes reading several pages of this Truth About Kos blog.  The time that they spend here and the fact that they view several pages confirms their interest in learning who MAMZ really is that the extensive research I and Stu Piddy have done on MAMZ and his family background is time that has not gone to waste.  Indeed, there are many people in the United States of America who are able to put down discussions of color-arousal long enough to wonder whether the man sitting next to them at Netroots Nation board meetings is a CIA operative, and what are the implications and ramifications of that.

Some people have no concerns over the fact that a leading "leftist" blogger might be receiving his marching orders from the CIA.  I am among the people who sees CIA infiltration of the American Left as a threat to our efficacy as a political force.  So anything that makes MAMZ's dubious background more well-known is all to the good, in spite of anonymous criticisms that I too often point out that MAMZ has expressed a strong concern about gay men looking at this underpants, AND about undressing in front of "members of the opposite sex."  If you feel "inherently uncomfortable" being naked in the presence of gays AND heterosexual women, then who does that leave?

I'm sure MAMZ minions will feel relieved that I am not interested in what MAMZ is doing today and am content to have utterly exposed him for what he is, thereby discrediting in reasonable and thinking people's minds all that he does today.  Anyone who cavorts with him in spite of the fact that his background is so thoroughly documented is a person who wants to be deceived or simply doesn't mind potentially becoming a CIA asset.

Nonetheless, I do follow up on tips that readers place in the comments, particularly if they include links to some new piece of information about which readers should be aware.  I publish guest pieces from others if every single one of their assertions is supported by sufficient documentation that readers can consult for themselves.  And readers are welcome to contact me at francislholland at gmail.com if they have anything useful to contribute.  Ad hominem nonsense and arguments without facts are better posted in the comments, thank you.

People who want to defend MAMZ are welcomed to do so in the comments.  Unfortunately, they never, ever offer any citations to support their assertions and blind confidence in the man who may well be their CIA handler.  Still, I do not censor reader comments, no matter how uninformed and mindless I personally believe them to be.  Often their defenses of MAMZ give me ideas for new lines of research and sources that I had not considered before.  So, I welcome MAMZ minions here and will give them all of the respect they deserve.

For example, the more that MAMZ minion participants at MyLeftWing doubted MAMZ's connection to his Salvadoran oligarchy family (see sidebar), the more I was challenged to prove, conclusively, the nature and extent of those contacts, to the extent possible.  (I still have not determined MAMZ's precise familial relationship to Carlos Alberto Delgado Zúñiga.  Maybe one of the MAMZ minion visitors to this blog will research that and get back to us with more information?) 

Best of all about the Truth About Kos is that you'll find hundreds of links documenting the facts cited here, many of which are in the right sidebar, with none of the "ipse dixit" that masquerades as "credibility" in the whitosphere.

How did MAMZ get the CIA's Permission to "Crash the Gates" of the Democratic Party?

The problem with the Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ), DailyKos, it's Front-Page Writers, Trusted Users, and others who operate DailyKos is that they do so for reasons other than the reasons announced.  They have a private group of nationally known bloggers, by invitation only, called the Townhouse Group.  The Townhouse group gets together (mostly over the Internet, probably) and decides what the American Left will say and what the Left will avoid saying. The problem with this is that at least one founder of this group is a CIA-trained manipulator.

Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ) acknowledges having spent two years training with the CIA, and also said in a June 2, 2006 interview at the Commonwealth Club:

I’ve never had any problem with the CIA. I’d have no problem working for them. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA at the Commonwealth Club. 

See transcript and listen to the audiotape for confirmation.
  
MAMZ has never denied that he does work for the CIA at the present, so the information we have, based on his comments, is only that, after training with the CIA, he'd "have no problem working for them."  Maybe HE DOES work for them!  Has anyone asked him and been told otherwise?

Having a CIA agent among the ranks of bloggers of the American Left is like having a convicted pedophile working at a your child's nursery school.  There are laws and corporate policies to prevent that from happening because everyone can see how fundamentally wrong it is to risk the safety of children by hiring someone who is inherently untrustworthy and sexually manipulative.  A CIA agent working among bloggers presents a similar level of risk.  After all, what do "secret agents" learn at the CIA if not manipulation of the groups which they infiltrate?

Since Stu Piddy and I disseminated the information on MAMZ's connection to the CIA, the idea of having a CIA agent working among the Left has become normalized, ostensibly because, in the words of one Black blogger who works directly with MAMZ setting up the yearly Netroots Nation conferences:  "" 

You can't read what the front page writers at DailyKos post for the purpose of determining whether they are sincere or not. You have to ask yourself what purpose the CIA would have in setting up DailyKos.  As Stu Piddy first observed, MAMZ has acknowledged that he was in training at the CIA when he started DailyKos. Pardon me for letting my imagination roam, but I can just imagine MAMZ's conversation with his secret-agent training supervisor at the CIA when MAMZ announced that in his spare time he was starting a "leftist" blog for "crashing the gates" of the Democratic Party:

MAMZ:  Bob, you're my supervisor and there's something I think you should know.  I know the CIA is usually a tool of the rich and a hammer over the head of poor people around the globe, but do you think it would be OK if I start a leftist blog about Leftist revolution while I'm still training at the CIA?

BOB, the CIA Supervisor: We know that you've been working on doing that because we listen in on your telephone conversations and we read your e-mail while you're in training at the CIA. I'm glad you've come to me with this idea instead of forcing me to confront you about it.

MAMZ: You've known all along that I want to be wealthy and famous, like my uncle (?) in El Salvador and you haven't said anything to me about it?

BOB, the Boss: (Begins to smile a devilish smile.) Yes, MAMZ, the truth is we think you starting a Leftist blog is an EXCELLENT idea, and we have a whole team of Internet experts, writers and, psy-ops psychologists who can help you to do this on a major level, with international influence.

MAMZ: But would the CIA help me to do this and expect nothing in return?

BOB: We would expect nothing in return other than your obedience, because we believe we can secretly use your blog and the contacts you make to control the entire American Left AND influence the media that the Left and everyone else reads.

MAMZ: Oh, OK. So, I can start my blog?

BOB: Sure! There's a large airplane hanger-sized office where you can work on your blog that's going to be the size of a Wal-Mart store, and we'll have your team assembled within a week. We even have someone contacting the other "Leftist" blogs so that you can all work in tandem.

MAMZ: Oh thanks! I knew you would understand!

BOB: I understand a lot more than you'll ever know, MAMZ.

While we don't know that the interaction occurred precisely as I say it did, we do know with certainty that it would be impossible to become a well-known "leftist" blogger while training to be a secret agent at the CIA without the issue coming up.  We should ALL want to know how that issue was resolved; what MAMZ got; and what the CIA got.  We should also wonder whether the training he received at the CIA was, from the beginning, precisely for the purpose of infiltrating and manipulating the American Left.

What feeds the rumor that Markos Moulitsas is gay?

Kos (MAMZ) apparently wearing red lipstick.

I've always wondered how rumors seemingly credible and well-known get started. There seem to be a few key points, based strictly on my own observation:

• The target of the rumor is well-know or becomes well-known within a given culture or sub-culture as the rumor spreads.
• The rumor seems to explain other well-known facts that are otherwise inexplicable.
• The people spreading the rumor (if its perceived as negative) are people who never liked the target of the rumor in the first place.
• It is virtually impossible to stop the spread of the rumor, if only because the public target's denial of the purported or strongly suspected facts would tend to spread the rumor further, and get more of the public involved in the quest for the truth, which might well confirm the rumor.
• Rumors must be "sticky" in the sense that they capture suspicions and the imagination of the public, which makes individuals want to pass on the information to others.  "Making a site sticky means that you are giving your readers what they want, and giving them a reason to stay on the site. " 

In the case of Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ), the rumor is that he is a closeted gay homophobe.  This rumor is perceived as credible by many who Google MAMZ because:

• MAMZ seems somewhat effeminate to many people; 
• He admittedly joined the army in an effort to be become and be perceived as a "real man"; 

at least one photograph of him seems to show him wearing bright red lipstick; 

MAMZ himself brought his own sexuality into question and amplified the public doubts when he wrote a letter to his college newspaper in which he said he felt "inherently uncomfortable" around gays because they might be looking at his "underpants," and he said he would feel uncomfortable undressing in front of a woman".

In an autobiographical article that MAMZ wrote for the American Prospect, dated April 16, 2006, MAMZ said of his participation in the US Army:

But basic training was the best thing to ever happen to me. They say they break you down in basic training so they can rebuild you into a real man. I was already broken when I arrived at Fort Sill. For me, it was all building.

Why did MAMZ feel like he was not a "real man" and how likely is it that those feelings were thoroughly extinguished by changing his "underwear" in front of other men for two or three months?

Rather than confirm his sense of manhood, his participation in the Army seems to have left him feeling more insecure.  In a letter to his the student newspaper at his alma mater, Northern Illinois University, MAMZ, after he left the Army, MAMZ said:

Worrying about whether the known homosexual sleeping next to you is watching as you change your underwear may seem trivial as you read this, but to the soldier who’s short-tempered after three weeks in the field and four hours of daily sleep, it becomes a matter of great importance to his pride and sensibilities. And in any case, there aren’t many people who would change clothes in a group of co-workers if members of the opposite sex were in the same room watching. There is something inherently uncomfortable about it. Such fears would go a long way in disrupting efficiency and morale in a unit. 

MARKOS C.A. MOULITSAS 

Undecided Freshman

One particular aspect of that letter seems especially curious and troubling.  MAMZ said:

. . . in any case, there aren’t many people who would change clothes in a group of co-workers if members of the opposite sex were in the same room watching.

For many men, being naked in front of a women "of the opposite sex" has only positive associations, since undressing with a woman present is a necessary and desirable part of having sex with her.  I believe many "real men" feel this way.  Being afraid to be naked in front of a woman seems sexually immature and profoundly un-masculine.  MAMZ seems to conflate and be unable to perceive any difference between undressing in front of gay men and undressing in front of members of the "opposite sex."   


One has to wonder, ïndeed, why MAMZ conflates being naked in front of gay men with being naked in front of women.  Is that really the same thing?  Maybe it is, if you secretly sexually desire naked men as much or more than you sexually desire women.

Many in the blogosphere have wondered what the word "undecided" meant to MAMZ in the letter to the student newspaper, and in the context of a letter about fear of gay men?  It seems reasonable to wonder precisely what MAMZ was "undecided" about, and whether he was ever able completely resolve his indecision.  Certainly the term "undecided" can be understood in ways in this context. 


People constantly Google "gay" and "Kos" and then find their way to this blog. Ironically, the nickname that Kos' associates gave him in the Army is also the name of a notoriously gay mecca resort island of the coast of Greece.  One has to wonder if the nickname was entirely coincidental or was suggestive of some part of MAMZ personality that was perceived and "named" by his Army co-workers.

I believe that much of the speculation about MAMZ`s sexuality comes from gays and lesbians who would like to publicly claim MAMZ as one of their own, but who cannot do so unless and until MAMZ "comes out of the closet," if indeed that's where he is now.

Right-Wing Tea Party Participants Comments Deleted at DailyKos.

In the comments to this diary, "Trusted Users" at DailyKos explain in the comments how they are able to make "Tea Party" comments disappear before most people at DailyKos or anyone else see them and be infected by a perspective other than the approved ones.

People who have participated at DailyWhitosphere (still virtually no Black or Latino participants there) know that Tea Party members are not the only ones whose messages are diligently censored.

The Trusted-User writer of a the diary at DailyKos about Tea Party activists explains why Tea Party comments cannot be seen at DailyKos.

But in writing about them here, I've attracted a couple three trolls, the leader of whom believes that lots of troll comments will "shut them down."

He's evidently unaware of the hidden comments feature.  (Emphasis added.)

The American right wing is discovering what progressives, Blacks and Latinos have learned about DailyKos: Since the discussion there is carefully monitored and censored to exclude many topics and views, it is not possible to assemble a group of bloggers there who disagree with the Townhouse approved messages.  As Chris Suellentrop explained at the New York Times,

The liberal blogosphere — which usually erupts with ad hominem attacks on the messenger whenever it is subject to the mildest, even-handed criticisms — has been eerily silent since last week’s revelation that MyDD.com founder and DailyKos ally Jerome Armstrong is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for allegedly taking money to promote a stock on a prominent online bulletin board. The New Republic’s Jason Zengerle, writing on his magazine’s The Plank blog, uncovers an e-mail from Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the proprietor of DailyKos, that may help explain things.


“TNR obtained a missive Kos sent earlier this week to ‘Townhouse,’ a private email list comprising elite liberal bloggers, including Jane Hamsher, Matt Stoller, and Christy Hardin Smith,” Zengerle writes. “And what was Kos’s message to this group that secretly plots strategy in the digital equivalent of a smoke-filled backroom? Stay mum!”


Zengerle publishes Moulitsas’s e-mail in full. In it, Moulitsas says he is considering suing “some of the wingnut bloggers” who are speculating about the story. He also asks his fellow liberal bloggers to keep quiet: “My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I’ll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let’s starve it of oxygen.”