Jon Swift Roundup 2025

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

( A Jon Swift picture.)

Welcome to the 2025 edition. It's been a long and eventful year, full of civil rights abuses, corruption and other skullduggery, but also some bright spots. It's nice to connect with others a bit and compare notes.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs.

The late Lance Mannion provided the definitive description of our endeavor, which I've been repeating every year:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2024 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the links above or the Wayback Machine if they're not working) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (I'd like expand our numbers again, but many bloggers don't list contact information.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to promote your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2025.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Show Me Progress
Patriot demonstration in Sedalia, Missouri – July 4, 2025"
Michael Bersin: "Images from a streetside anti-Fascist demonstration along the main drag in Sedalia, Missouri on the 4th of July."

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"World AIDS Day"
Mustang Bobby: "Although great advances have been made in the treatment of HIV and AIDS, the loss of loved ones is still with us. I wrote a play, "Here’s Hoping," in 1994 for World AIDS Day and it still resonates."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Peace-Loving Trump"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My post includes a two-verse limerick and a haiku, both of which mock Trump's yearning for the Nobel Peace Prize and his delight in receiving the make-believe FIFA Consolation 'Peace Prize.' "

Darwinfish²
"The Hacky Habits of News Aggregators and I Can’t Even"
Bluzdude: "The common irritating tricks, tics, and misdirections used by news link sites."

You Might Notice a Trend
"The Isolation"
Paul Wartenberg: "What trump is doing is the standard practice of an abusive gaslighting narcissist – any cult leader – does in all relationships: he's enforcing his will on other people to make them reliant on himself and to any belief system he imposes. He's cutting us off from friends and families who are warning us of the dangers, who could provide sanctuary or rescue and end his control of us..."

Mock Paper Scissors
"Case Study: In Your Guts, You Know He’s Nuts"
Tengrain: "The intersection of Artificial Intelligence and genuine stupidity as AI diagnoses Prznint Stupid’s rants. Be sure to read the funny, on-point comments from the Scissorheads, the internet’s band of incorrigible spitballers."

Just an Earthbound Misfit, I
"Mafia Nation (ETA: Indiana's Response)"
Comrade Misfit: "Trump tries to run a Mafia-style protection racket on Indiana Republicans. They grew a spine and told him to fuck off."

Constant Commoner
"Nobodies of the World, Unite!"
Ramona Grigg: "In celebration of the millions of nobodies who came together all across the land and made good noise, good trouble. Think Frodo and Samwise. They didn't think they could do it, either."

The Professional Left Podcast
"Ep. 942: What Is Effective Protest?"
Blue Gal: 'This was our #1 on YouTube. I would suggest it anyway given it has a No Kings theme.'

driftglass
"An Ode To The Low-Information Voter"
driftglass: "Written on Inauguration Day 2025, this was an ode to some of the people who helped re-elect the worst president in American history."

The Rectification of Names
"Farces All the Way Back"
Yastreblyansky: "In the aesthetics of right-wing dictatorship, maybe the first time was something of a farce too. Notes from August on, among others, Marx, God, Napoleon, the economist Stephen Moore, and Mr. Magoo."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark TimeBLOG NAME
"Remigration – the one word to rule them all"
LarryE (whoviating): "The entire anti-immigration program of the Trump regime can be summed up in one word: "remigration," the forcing of anyone considered "undesirable" to "go back to where they came from" – even if that could be generations back."

The Debate Link
"Trump's (Dis)order Gamble"
David Schraub: "The Trump administration is creating disorder in the hopes that voters will flee to the "party of order". But it is rare that a widespread sense of chaos, fear, and uncertainty benefits the ruling party."

Infidel753
"The empire of shriveled souls"
Infidel753: "Why is our country's political and corporate leadership so full of mediocrities? Because the incentives and type of work involved mostly attract emotionally-stunted trolls obsessed with accumulating money and power. Such roles don't appeal to our best minds, who mostly go into the sciences, arts, and academia instead. But today even those fields are increasingly under the sway of the shriveled souls who reign over politics and business, stultifying our culture and progress."

annieasksyou
Signal's Crossed, Emoji-Texting Protectors (An Acrostic Commemorating a Historic National Security Snafu)
Annie: "As America's inept and corrupt national security gang continue to both amuse and alarm us, I offer the acrostic I composed when we first saw their scary bumbling."

First Draft
"Birdbrain Of Alcatraz"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Convicted felon orders reopening of infamous prison 62 years after it closed."

Nan's Notebook
"Bull-Poppy"
Nan: "The mystery of the interstellar comet 31/ATLAS cultivates the ideology of space visitors."

Perrspectives
"Munich II: Trump Begins the U.S. Betrayal of Ukraine"
Jon Perr: "If Washington’s betrayal of Kyiv sounds eerily familiar, it should. Just swap 1938 for 2025, Czechoslovakia for Ukraine, Hitler for Putin, Germany for Russia, and Neville Chamberlain for Donald Trump."

The Rude Pundit
"There Is No "America" Without Birthright Citizenship"
Lee Papa: "We are not the United States without immigrants and their children. Without birthright citizenship, we are just some bullshit group of colonizers inbreeding until we die out."

Crazy Eddie's Motie News
" 'Weathered' explains 'This Is EXACTLY How Much Poorer Climate Change Will Make Every Person on Earth'
Pinku-Sensei (Vince Lamb): "Most read post of 2025 with 1383 page views, thanks in part to Steve in Manhattan sharing the link at Crooks and Liars."

God's Spies
"A Palantir Primer: Tools for the Muscular State"
Thomas Neuburger: "We're at a tipping point. Just as the climate crisis has accelerated, so has the political one. Whatever dystopian agenda next plays out, the spook state will not go away. Welcome to why not to live here."

Left Jabs
"Zohran Mamdani is Not Coming to Eat Your Children"
LeftJabber: "Let’s remember that it was the Mamdani campaign that launched the word "affordability" all the way back in June. This post looks at the hysteria that surrounded his meteoric rise."

Strangely Blogged
"It's Especially NOT Funny Because It's True"
Vixen Strangely: "MAGAs support the worst possible person as president because they are the worst possible people and simply don't care about reality if it interferes with their vibes."

This Is So Gay
"Making the Homosexual More Modern and Relatable; or, Let's Go, Brandan!"
Duncan Mitchel: "I'm a gay atheist, and I've been following gay Christian apologetic for half a century now. It goes through phases; here's the latest one."

Bluestem Prairie
"Ah! Nostalgia! Draz's retirement announcement prompts walk down memory lane"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "A look back at the provocative legislative career of Minnesota's Steve Drazkowski, who never met a hungry person in Minnesota."

Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
"Notes from POTUS for Production of Rush Hour IV"
Roy Edroso: " More than one observer has mentioned that Trump's real dream of power was never politics but rather movie moguldom. And now that he's trying to put it over with his new Hollywood friends, his script doctoring has the same characteristics as his presidency: Crude, stupid, and hilarious."

Vagabond Scholar
"Dick Cheney and the Dark Side"
Batocchio: "Dick Cheney, who died in November, was by far the most powerful U.S. Vice President in history, and not coincidentally, was one of the Americans who most harmed the United States (and the world) in living memory."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2026.

Jon Swift Roundup 2024

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

( A Jon Swift picture, or possibly a visual summing-up of 2024.)

Welcome to the 2024 edition. It's been a tough year for many folks, and interesting times loom ahead. But it's always a good time to celebrate independent voices, insightful political commentary, and thoughtful reflections on culture and the arts.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs.

The late Lance Mannion provided the definitive description of our endeavor:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2023 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (I'd like expand our numbers again, but many bloggers don't list contact information.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to promote your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2024.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Taking Dictation"
Mustang Bobby: "The curious case of the voters in Florida who fled dictators in Latin America only to vote for one here. It's part of a rich cultural tradition. But it's not really good for the American experiment."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Trump’s 'Genius' Speeches (3-Verse Limerick)"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My 3-Verse Limerick mocking Trump's 'genius' oratorical 'weave.' "

Show Me Progress
"Representative-elect Wick Thomas (D) – LGBTQIA+ Townhall Meeting – Kansas City, Missouri – December 8, 2024"
Michael Bersin: "On Sunday night, December 8th, the LGBTQIA+ community in Kansas City, Missouri held a town hall in a supportive establishment on Main Street to address the coming Trump administration. More than 150 people attended the over two-hour standing room only event."

The Professional Left Podcast
"A Good Ol' Fashioned Beatdown"
Bue Gal: "Our most popular episode of the year was the one on the "They're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs" debate... with bonus slagging of Morning Joe!"

driftglass
"Democrats Are the Kwisatz Haderach"
driftglass: "They did it to themselves. And they didn't have to. For 50 years, they had so many different paths open to them, but always they chose the Dark Road."

The Rectification of Names
"God Made a Former"
Yastreblyansky: "At the beginning of the 2024 primary campaign, Donald Trump's people issued a downright Stalinist remake of the old Paul Harvey routine, "God Made a Farmer", to the greater glory of their candidate; this formal parody was my response."

Darwinfish ²
"How to Win the November Elections"
bluzdude: "All we had to do was follow the plan; it was right there for the taking."

You Might Notice A Trend
"The Joy"
Paul Wartenberg: "I could – after the nightmare happening again this November – share an article that is dark and angry. But for a brief moment during this 2024 election cycle, it felt like the Democrats were doing well, doing the right thing, promoting Kamala Harris to the presidency and running a joyous, electric national convention. There was a thrill to the campaign I hadn't seen since 2008."

Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I
"World War III is Underway"
Comrade Misfit: "The Third World War has begun, for those not paying attention."

The Rude Pundit
"America Is a Floating Island of Garbage"
Lee Papa: "The good guys lost. Goddamnit."

Infidel753
"Further observations on the election"
Infidel753: "My assessment of why the Democrats lost, and what they need to do differently going forward. Left-populist economic policies poll well, but the left's stances on many social issues and on culture are repulsive to mainstream voters."

Mock, Paper, Scissors
"TFG Puts America LAST, Again"
Tengrain: "78-year old career criminal and likely Russian asset Donald Trump congratulates Vladimir Putin for releasing the hostage that he took. He never says so much as "Welcome Home" to any of the repatriated Americans, too. Also."

AnnieAsksYou
"BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT—An Acrostic in Praise of Twelve Ordinary Americans"
Annie: "This is my tiny retribution. He may be president-elect, but he’s still a felon convicted on 34 counts by a jury of his peers.

"Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time"
Now What?"
Larry Erickson (whoviating): "It's post-November 5, 2024. What happened? And now what?"

Perrspectives
"Trump’s Top 10 Broken Promises on the Economy"
Jon Perr: "When it comes to his promises on the economy, Donald Trump’s dismal past performance is a guarantee of future results."

First Draft
"Lowbrow Humor, Wicked Satire"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Mocking the Nazis, Three Stooges style. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."

Left Jabs
"Don't Let The New York Times Do Your Thinking"
Left Jabber: "A look at the failure of the New York Times to defend the democracy under which they've thrived."

The Debate Link
"How Awful They Must Be, To Compel Us To Do Such Dreadful Things"
David Schraub: "My one year reflection on October 7, the horrors of that day and the horrors that followed it, and in particular how for some seeing those horrors paradoxically made them more committed to hating, denigrating, and dehumanizing the victims. After all, think of how awful they must be, to have forced us to do such dreadful things."

God's Spies
"What 'The Wire' Teaches About Institutions"
Thomas Neuburger: "Does death make life less sweet? It shouldn’t, and we shouldn’t let it."

Writer Everlasting
"How to Live Longer and Stay Sharper: Be Creative, Find Your Joy"
Ramona Grigg: "It's a theory, with no facts to back it up, but Ramona is old so you should indulge her. If you're the creative type you might just agree."

Bluestem Prairie
"DNA, inbreeding issues: Rusty patched bumble bees' survival may take more than habitat"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "Saving the endangered rusty patched bumble bee, Minnesota's official state bee, may take more than just habitat protection and creation."

This Is So Gay
"What Did You Do in the Woke Wars, Grampa?"
Duncan Mitchel: "The use of "woke", both positively and negatively, continues unabated. Here's why it should be abandoned."

Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
"The People Next Door"
Roy Edroso: "This year I thought I'd pick one from my various comic equities: The Sunday morning show Received Opinion with Bolt Upright? Supervillain Elon Musk? Donald Trump as senile Frank Booth with The Formula? But in the end I went with Sam Alito and his upside-down flag."

alicublog
"Just What Maga v. Taylor Swift Needed: A Little Touch of Dreher!""
Roy Edroso: "These days alicublog is mainly a weekly wrap-up with links to my Substack, but this one's an interesting snapshot from that weird time when conservatives were freaking out over the communist menace of Taylor Swift. Special guest appearance from stock company buffoon Rod Dreher!"

Crazy Eddie's Motie News
"John Oliver examines Clarence Thomas and makes him an offer on 'Last Week Tonight' "
Pinku-Sensei (Vince Lamb): "This was the most read entry of 2024. It's still timely ten months later with the release of the Senate Judiciary Committee report last week. Too bad Thomas didn't accept Oliver's offer!"

Strangely Blogged
"JD Vance Creates Stories"
Vixen Strangely: "He lies, brazenly admits he lies, and will be a heartbeat away from the presidency."

Vagabond Scholar
"The State of the Nation (Pre-Election 2024)"
Batocchio: "Assessing the state of things on the eve of the election."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2025.

Jon Swift Roundup 2023

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

( A Jon Swift picture, which always seems timely during Republican presidential primary season.)

Welcome to the 2023 edition! It's been an interesting year.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs.

The late Lance Mannion provided the definitive description of our endeavor:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2022 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (It'd be nice to expand our numbers again, but many bloggers don't list contact information.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2023.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Show Me Progress
"Warrensburg, Missouri Pride Festival - hand wringing, pearl clutching, and sign waving in the noonday sun - June 3, 2023"
Michael Bersin: "The drag show goes on at a pride festival in small town Missouri after weeks of anonymous threats and public moral scolding. Outside the venue, in the sun and humidity, busibodies with poorly made protest signs express their self-righteous indignation. Add local police, serious private security, and rainbow flags."

First Draft
"The Talented Mr. Santos Pop Quiz"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Test your bullshit detector with this quiz. Lying is encouraged, it's what George would do."

Darwinfish²
"MAGA at the Movies"
Bluzdude: "If these movies were made now, in today’s highly polarized political environment, who would the MAGA crowd be rooting for?"

Mock Paper Scissors
"About Last Night… (Updated)"
Tengrain: "When the Fulton County DA Fani Willis released her historic indictments against a former President. It is the story of the year (century?) and one for the history books, and I for one rejoice that if convicted, he cannot be pardoned by any future president."

You Might Notice a Trend
"Punching Themselves Just a Little Bit More"
Paul Wartenberg: "The kabuki dance we're about to see from the House Republicans isn't about accountability, as they themselves do not believe themselves accountable thanks to safe gerrymandered districts back home. This isn't about corruption because despite all their wailing and gnashing of teeth they haven't proven it. This is about embarrassing Biden and weakening him on the political stage in order to depress voter turnout in 2024. This is about making it easier to deflect or avoid the real corruption Trump is confronting in multiple courtrooms over the next six months."

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Twenty Years"
Mustang Bobby/Bobby Cramer: "Marking the twentieth anniversary of the start of Bark Bark Woof Woof. We’re still here."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time
"A not-so-easy question"
Larry Erickson (Whoviating): "Do Palestinians have a right to resist?"

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Hope, At Last?"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My two-verse limerick celebrating Trump's first federal indictment."

This Is So Gay
"Liberals in Flames"
Duncan Mitchel: "Maybe I shouldn't pick on Mehdi Hasan after his demotion at MSNBC, but here goes anyway: posting a bogus quotation against democracy attributed to the racist, pro-fascist Winston Churchill was just not a good idea. Nor was assuming that liberal media know best. What was he thinking?"

his vorpal sword
"October Twenty Sixth, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Three"
Hart Williams: "My fiftieth anniversary as a writer: the origin story. And the connection with Steve Miller's word 'pompatus.' "

Strangely Blogged
"TWGB: Trump Derangement Syndrome"
Vixen Strangely: "In this TrumpWorld Grab-Bag offering, I get down to what the common phrase 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' really seems to mean, and who the actual sufferers are."

Just an Earthbound Misfit, I
"This Holiday Season, Putin Should Send Gift Baskets to J.D. Vance, Gym Jordan, and the Resof the Anti-Freedom Caucus"
Comrade Misfit: "A discourse on the GOP's puzzling support for a dictatorship that is trying to conquer a democracy."

annie@annieasksyou.com
"Dear President Biden: A Birthday Tribute From a Strong Supporter"
Annie: "My decision to forgo a couple of self-satisfying anti-Trump posts and choose this one became easy when the despicable and feckless House Republicans voted unanimously to open an impeachment inquiry of President Biden based on zero crimes or misdemeanors. They know what so many pundits and the press don't seem to: Joe Biden remains a formidable candidate."

Crazy Eddie's Motie News
"Video tributes to George Zingali for his birthday on World AIDS Day"
Pinku-Sensei: I decided to write something personal for World AIDS Day, the story of an acquaintance who participated in the same youth musical activity as me and later died of AIDS. I wrote more widely read posts this year, but none as appreciated on Facebook with 101 likes."

Infidel753
"Yes, it could happen here"
Infidel753: "For years, people have been throwing around the epithet "Nazi" indiscriminately, at anything or anyone they didn't like. Now it turns out that our country is infested with real Nazis – and they're more numerous and dangerous than we ever suspected. The implications for the future are terrifying."

The Debate Link
"The Baggage of Whiteness"
David Schraub: "What is "whiteness" doing to Jewish identity in the wake of Hamas' 10/7 attacks, Israel's war in Gaza, and the resultant protests and antisemitic activity around the world?"

Bluestem Prairie
"MN Private Business Council gave $47,600 to Common Sense MN's mailer campaign in Mankato School District Referendum Question #1"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "An illustration of the value of an independent blog: local news reported on the mailings, but didn't track down the group behind them or the money spent. The referendum passed, despite large outside funding with a partisan edge."

driftglass
"The Despairing Posture of Their Fail"
driftglass: "In which it becomes clear that none of the intellectual titans of the Right ever heard of the legend of the Golem. Or saw or read The Sorcerer's Apprentice, or Frankenstein, or..."

Blue Gal
"Ep 763 | No Fair Remembering Stuff: Immigration"
Blue Gal: "We review certain facts you'll want to have on hand when talking to MAGA relatives regarding the history of immigration in America. Special props to Maria Bartiromo, a grandchild of open-border immigrants."

God's Spies, by Thomas Neuburger
"This Generation's Problem"
Thomas Neuburger: "Analysis of Cenozoic temperature implies CO2 of about 450 ppm at transition to an ice-free planet. Current growth implies CO2 between 480–520 ppm in 2050. Time to change leaders?"

The Rectification of Names
"Israel's 9/11"
Yastreblyansky: "This was a first response to the horror in Israel of October 7 and a gloomy view of how Israel was likely to respond, which turned out to be, I'm sorry to say, fairly prophetic."

Filosofa's Word
"Reflections"
Jill Dennison: "This post is from last January, a look at America through the news stories of the day, and reflections of how different our reality is from the America we once thought we knew."

Perrspectives
"Past GOP Speakers, Ratings Agencies Warned of Republican Debt Ceiling 'Disaster' "
Jon Perr: "Ratings agencies and Republican House Speakers agree. GOP failure to raise the debt ceiling would result in 'financial disaster.' "

Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
"The Gut-Wringing Machine"
Roy Edroso: "A ghost in the AI machine."

alicublog
"The Winsome Witchfinder Moves Up"
Roy Edroso: "Just a reminder, on the occasion of his elevation to Times columnist, what a repulsive piece of shit David French is."

The Rude Pundit
"The Georgia Indictment Is a Defense of the Workers Who Make Democracy Function"
Lee Papa (The Rude Pundit): "Fulton County DA Fani Willis's indictment of Donald Trump and his cabal of insurrectionists is a full-on punch to the face to anyone who would come to her state and try to ruin the lives of government workers."

Vagabond Scholar
"The Iraq War in 2023"
Batocchio: "Mostly a compilation of past posts on the Iraq War."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2024.

Jon Swift Roundup 2022

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

( A Jon Swift picture.)

Welcome to the 2022 edition! It's been an interesting year for elections and investigations, among other things.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs.

The late Lance Mannion provided the definitive description of our endeavor:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2021 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (As always, my goal is to find the right balance between inclusive and manageable.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2022.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Nancy Levis Williams – 1929-2022"
Mustang Bobby (aka Philip Middleton Williams): "My farewell to my mom."

Crazy Eddie's Motie News
"The story of Loving vs. Virginia on Loving Day"
Pinku-Sensei: "This post tells the story, real and dramatized, of the Lovings, on the 55th anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving vs. Virginia, which struck down state laws against interracial marriage. This has been one of the most consistently popular posts I wrote this year, earning at least 250 page views every month since I posted it on June 12th, so my readers chose it as much as I did."

Show Me Progress
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) and Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Gladstone, Missouri – GOTV Rally – October 29, 2022"
Michael Bersin: "Immediately after the August 2022 primary and up through to the general election we covered Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine (D) at fourteen out of her many retail campaign events across the state. Conventional wisdom and old media mostly ignored this campaign, missing the human contact, empathy, and joy in the battle of the candidate and her campaign staff. Trudy Busch Valentine (D) received 42% of the vote, losing to Eric Schmitt (R) by 13 points.."

First Draft
The Puppetmaster?
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Donald Trump blames his legal problems on everyone but himself. There's one man he blames most of all, Andrew Weissmann: the Puppetmaster. Bow down before the Puppetmaster and his dog Innis."

his vorpal sword
"GOPaganda and the Civil War"
Hart Williams: "Why the Right has taken up the cry of 'Civil War!' and how off-kilter that actually is. I had reviewed this author on this subject once before: mendacity galore!"

Constant Commoner
"Joni Mitchell Left and Then She Came Back"
Ramona Grigg: "Joni Mitchell's triumphant return to the Newport Folk Festival after 53 years away got me thinking about our national treasures and what it is that makes them endure. They're not treasures by accident."

Mock Paper Scissors
"News That Will Drive You to Drink, Ken Starr Edition"
Tengrain: "The one in which we eulogize Ken Starr, because someone has to set the record straight."

Darwinfish2
"The End of Roe"
bluzdude: "Initial reaction to the leak about overturning Roe."

Strangely Blogged
"Jesus, Guns, Babies, and American Exceptionalism"
Vixen Strangely: "A simple political slogan gives insight into an entire Christian-right worldview."

The Rectification of Names
"Opinions We Never Finished Reading. I"
Yastreblyansky: "Cheating a little, this is part I of a six-part reaction to Justice Alito's leaked opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, in particular his view that a right to abortion is not "deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions", which turns out to be based on the questionable assumption that there have never been any women in our nation's history and traditions. The whole series takes you from an abortion performed in the 5th or 6th century by St. Bridget of Kildare to an effective recipe for a herbal abortion published by founding father Benjamin Franklin, and is more entertaining that most of this dismal year's stories."

You Might Notice a Trend
"Dreading The Oncoming Storm"
Paul Wartenberg: "One of my co-workers honestly asked me, 'Are we going to have another civil war?...' Given the nature of the partisan division there really is no safe place in America when (not if) the extremism of the Far Right – either in denial of a Democratic midterm victory or in vindication of a Republican one – triggers a series of violent acts..."

The Debate Link
" 'Economically Liberal, Socially Conservative' Will Always Decay into Fascism"
David Schraub: "One of the enduring mysteries of American politics is why no party occupies the supposedly popular "economically liberal, socially conservative" quadrant. The answer is simple: shorn of socially liberal commitments to egalitarianism, "economic liberalism" simply means that the coercive power of the state is deployed to redirect wealth, power, and resources towards preferred ingroups – i.e., fascism."

Infidel753
"The destruction of sex"
Infidel753: "Sexuality in America is being twisted into something ugly, disgusting, and painful. Pornography is the proximate cause, but we should also look at who stands to gain from this."

annieasksyou
"I No Longer Recognize My Country"
Annie: "In these precarious times for our fragile democracy, I explore the expression so many of us feel—"I no longer recognize my country" and find a way to respond. I close with a remarkable July 4th video: a gift to US from the Ukrainian people."

The Rude Pundit
"Tucker Carlson Has an Orgasm: A Fantasia"
Lee Papa (the Rude Pundit): "Ever wonder what gets Tucker Carlson off? No? Well, I did. And it's not fun."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time
"Transgender youth know who they are"
Larry E (Whoviating): "Amid increasing attacks on the very right of trans youth to exist, research says trans youth know who they are."

Just an Earthbound Misfit, I
"Legitimacy and Why It Matters, or 'Nice Little Representative Democracy You Have Here. Pity If Something Were To Happen to It.' "
Comrade Misfit: "How Clarence and the Supremes are ruining a leg of the Federal government and why it matters."

Bluestem Prairie
"Scott Jensen to speak—again—at "vaccine awareness" Global Health Freedom Summit"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "Bluestem Prairie broke this story about MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen ten days before the rest of Minnesota media sort of caught up. Unlike most other accounts, Bluestem reported that this scheduled speaking event was a repeat appearance and Jensen's anti-vaccine positions weren't confined to COVID-19 jabs, but all vaccines."

The Professional Left Podcast
"Ep 634: Maybe Joe Biden Is Simply A #@%^ing Democrat!"
Blue Gal (and Driftglass): "People in the media insisting Biden move to the center - wherever that is, punch a hippie or do a "Sista Soldja" moment - are just in the habit of hating plain ordinary progressive Democrats. We think their advice is wrong. [NOTE: F-words are used in this show.]"

driftglass
"Charles Foster Kane and the Four-Quadrant Podcast"
driftglass: "Take if from your Unca driftglass kids, the key to political podcasting fame and fortune is to make damn sure check all four audience boxes!"

Mad Kane's Humor Blog
"Limerick Ode To Elon Musk"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My two-verse limerick mocking Elon Musk's impressively fast-paced destruction of Twitter."

Self-Styled Siren
"John Wayne and the Six Security Men"
Farran Smith Nehme: "Did John Wayne attempt to assault Sacheen Littlefeather in 1973, only to be held back by six security men? An attempt to trace an old story."

alicublog
"Aid & Comfort Conservatives"
Roy Edroso: "In the old-fashioned blog style I took down some evidence of how conservatives were trying to distort history at it happened – in this case, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which many of them applauded. If nothing else it's good to remember what they were trying when they thought they might get away with it."

Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
"Alex gets with it"
Roy Edroso: "Scenes from Family Ties if it had been transported from the Reagan era to today."

Perrspectives
"Mitt Romney Is In Denial"
Jon Perr: "Mitt Romney never misses an opportunity to be an opportunist. So it is with his latest paean to both-siderism."

Jill Dennison
"Priorities"
Jill Dennison: "Choices. We make decisions every day about how to spend our time, our energy, our money. We expect our elected government to do the same, to prioritize what is in the best interest of the people ... ALL the people. But do their priorities match ours?"

God's Spies
"Our Rolling Civil War"
Thomas Neuburger: "The civil war that's brewing in this country is a rolling affair, a badly led, mixed amalgam of many elements. It's a revolt against the way Big Money screws almost everyone else. The professional left has abandoned its leadership to serve the status quo. Fun times ahead."

Left Jabs
"The Dumbing Down of Russia Looks Painfully Familiar"
LeftJabber: "Written almost a month after Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, this article points out the striking parallels between Putin’s brainwashing of the Russian people and Republicans’ similar efforts in the United States. Both rely heavily on the gullibility and ignorance of their constituents."

This Is So Gay
"Exchanging the Truth for a Lie"
Duncan Mitchel: "Conservative Christians are still trying to present themselves as reasonable and loving in their crusade against gay people and gender nonconformists; here's my discussion of a recent example. (Full disclosure: I have neglected my blog this year, and this post is a runner-up for my best of 2021; I hope to do better next year.)"

Vagabond Scholar
"The Worse Demons of Our Nature"
Batocchio: "The most popular political figures for the conservative base are those who give them permission to deny reality and to behave awfully toward their fellow Americans."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2023.

Jon Swift Roundup 2021

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

( An appropriate Jon Swift picture for the year.)

Welcome to the 2021 edition! This year was a little saner than 2020, at least.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs.

Lance Mannion, who sadly passed away earlier this year, provided the definitive description of our endeavor:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2020 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Meanwhile, if you're not familiar with Lance Mannion, the (the nom du blog for David Reilly), it's well worth checking out his work. He was a thoughtful writer who covered politics, but also wrote often about books, movies, culture in general, history and his own life. His observations were insightful and grounded in humanity. A good starting point might be his lovely post, "Robin's Last Arrow," which was read at his memorial service.

I should also mention the passing of Mike Finnigan, who was a champion of small blogs at Crooks and Liars and promoted this roundup in both its incarnations. He was a friend to many of us.

In that spirit, thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (As always, my goal is to find the right balance between inclusive and manageable.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2021.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Not Just Sitting, But Marching"
Mustang Bobby: "Remembering my father and his legacy. He died from Covid-19 on May 25, 2020. His ashes were interred in Northport, Michigan on what would have been his 95th birthday."

Show Me Progress
"Johnson County Community Health Services – Board of Trustees – August 2, 2021 – This is why we can’t have nice things"
Michael Bersin: "Images and audio from a county health board meeting in an anti-mask, anti-vaccine hotspot in Missouri. I don’t know what upset me more – that I was, in all probability, at risk for exposure to COVID-19 or that my IQ probably dropped forty points after listening to their tiresome luddite anti-science drivel."

Constant Commoner
"Love, Light, and Atheism"
Ramona Grigg: "We're not the doomed or the damned, we just don't believe in your gods. A case for reaching an understanding."

Mock Paper Scissors
"HR-1 Passed, Now It Goes To The Senate!"
Tengrain: "We had a lot of optimism and momentum in March; what a difference a Manchin makes. Also, I think this is the start of the new MPS nickname for the Republicans: The Coup Klux Klan!"

Self-Styled Siren
"Box Office Blues: Marty Was Right"
Farran Smith Nehme: "Looking at box-office trends from the 1920s to the present, in an attempt to figure out what the hell happened."

Brilliant at Breakfast Rebooted
"What should be the limits on our compassion?"
Jill: "Jill ponders the deaths of those who refused the COVID-19 vaccines out of ignorance, willfully believing misinformation, or just plain political partisanship, and wonders just how much compassion we should have for these people."

Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I
"A Sincere Greeting to Everyone Who Has Chosen to Not Be Vaccinated Against the Coronavirus"
Comrade Misfit: "The post addresses the spread of the Delta variant (or, if you prefer, the Darwin variant) among the unvaccinated."

Darwinfish2
"If it Weren't for Double Standards, They'd have None at All"
Bluzdude: "Illustrating the double standards of modern Republicans, debunking memes on gas prices and alleged Socialism, and a Dad Story."

Hysterical Raisins
"Cheney Leaves the House of Twitler"
nonnie9999: "With apologies to Peter Paul Rubens, I have reworked his painting of Hagar Leaves the House of Abraham to illustrate the unceremonious ousting of Liz Cheney from the GOP House leadership by Kevin "Shecky" McCarthy and his embrace and promotion of Elise "The Little Slurmaid" Stefanik."

The Professional Left Podcast
"Ep 585: The Second Impeachment Trial"
The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal: We talk about the second impeachment of Donald Trump and I make an impassioned case for moving very quickly on the Democratic agenda. Plus I do a "Bible Bitch" segment."

his vorpal sword
"Beware the False Kumbaya"
Hart Williams: " Successfully (alas) predicted the increasing polarization of the past year, and explains why it will continue. It was a dire warning then; it is an urgent warning now."

David E's Fablog
"The Crying Game"
David E: "Not since Margaret O’Brien turned on the tears in Meet Me in St. Louis has the American public ever seen anything like the blubberfest provided by freelance murderer Kyle Rittenhouse at his trial in Kenosha Wisconsin."

You Might Notice a Trend
"Irrational"
Paul Wartenberg: "Trump's electoral loss in 2020 did not end the madness driving the Republican Party into abandoning all civility and love for the United States."

First Draft
"Owning The Commies With John Neely Kennedy"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Louisiana Senator John Neely Kennedy is not an idiot, he just plays one on television."

Strangely Blogged
"Does it Work on Brain Worms?"
Vixen Strangely: "One Weird Trick is no substitute for good science."

The Rectification of Names
"The Art of the Impossible"
Yastreblyansky: "I've spent a lot of blog time this difficult year trying to come up with ways of expressing a little hope for the political future, with respect to what the Biden administration is and isn't going to be able to accomplish, without sounding too stupid. This one from November may come close."

Infidel753
"The politicizing of everyday things"
Infidel753: "The left is self-destructing by embracing bizarre fringe positions which are repugnant to mainstream voters. These issues superficially seem trivial, but in fact are not, because they represent a threatening intrusion of ideology into everyday life, eclipsing the "big" issues that political activists imagine are more important. The US left's refusal to confront and address this problem makes it likely that Republicans will win the next few election cycles, creating an enormous danger to the country. This is definitely the most important political post I've written, and will probably be the last."

driftglass
"I Wasn't Being Condescending. I Was Being Patronizing."
driftglass: "Honestly, being scolded about the harm my tone is doing and the need for us Lefties to temper our language by the same goofs who made a living for decades calling us everything but a child of God never stops being funny."

Perrspectives
"It's Not True and You Know It's Not True"
Jon Perr: "History will record that on January 6, 2021, the President of the United States, 140 Republican House members and a dozen GOP Senators sought to overturn the results of the free and fair vote of the American people. But how these Republicans would seek to deny the will of the voters and trigger a failed insurrection in the Capitol—through the propagation and perpetuation of a disgusting lie—should have been clear years ago."

annieasksyou.com
"Winning Over White Supremacists One Hater at a Time"
Annie: "I write about politics a great deal, and doing so is often depressing. But when I learned about the individuals and organizations featured in this post, I felt a sense of hope for our battered nation that I felt was worth sharing."

The Rude Pundit
"Why We're So Fucking Angry at the Unvaccinated"
Lee Papa (the Rude Pundit): "We're trying to save your dumb asses by getting vaccinated. And we're sick of you not helping."

The Debate Link
"Reflections on Being Victim of a Scam"
David Schraub: "I was the victim of a scam earlier this year. As scams go, mine was comparatively minor – it only involved Lego sets. But my reaction to it – in particular my powerful instinct to stay in denial even once the scam became obvious – gave me new insight into other people who've bought into far more serious scams; specifically, political scams. In politics just as much as in online shopping, it is a terrible and difficult thing to accept that the goods you bought will never be shipped."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time
"On January 6"
LarryE, aka Whoviating: "Reactions to January 6 written a day or two after the event."

Bluestem Prairie
"State rep Tim Miller: MN state public officials beholden to radical anti-livestock enviro groups"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "Minnesota House Republican member Tim Miller sent out an email claiming those public officials who want to restrict captive deer farms are "beholden to radical environmental groups who do not want livestock farming to exist." We examined what those public officials think about livestock farming, concluding with deer farm critic House Environment & Natural Resources Committee chair Rick Hansen, who is in business with Amish livestock farming neighbor near his place by Harmony and whose niece won the Minnesota State Fair 4H grand champion barrow ribbon. Uffda."

God's Spies, by Thomas Neuburger
"An Independence Day Reflection: How the Rich Plan to Rule a Burning World"
Thomas Neuburger: "This is a glimpse of the world being built as we watch, the view from a window that opens onto the day when the only freedom celebrated on the Fourth is the freedom of the super-rich from the rest of mankind."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Ousted Liz Cheney, Still Speaking Out"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My two-verse limerick, in which I shock myself by saying something nice about a Cheney."

The Way of Cats
"Dear Pammy, Are Cats Family?"
Pamela Merritt: "Our pets teach us the limits of prejudice, and the extraordinary benefits of drawing our circle of humanity on a bigger scale."

alicublog
"There's Ross Perot. Dr. Laura. Megan Mcardle. Wait a Minute – They're Not So Great."
Roy Edroso: "A consideration of Megan McArdle doing what she does best – humiliating herself on behalf of the richest people on earth."
Plus a bonus post:
Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
"Operation Overlord"
Roy Edroso: "On why Elon Musk will one day run for President (briefly, because he appeals to an up and coming and even more repulsive new generation of Republican scumbags).

This Is So Gay
"I May Not Know Cancel Culture, But I Know What I Like"
Duncan Mitchel: "The fuss about cancel culture seems to have died down a bit, but it will surely return, maybe in another guise, and people will be just as misinformed about its next stage as they were this time."

Balloon Juice
COVID-19 series
Balloon Juice readers nominated Anne Laurie for "the great service she’s done" with her "tour-de-force" series of COVID posts. You can see them through the category link above.

Vagabond Scholar
"The Graveyard of Democracy"
Batocchio: "Afghanistan has been called 'the graveyard of empires' because of all the supposedly mighty powers that have failed to conquer it. Unchecked military spending, endless wars, unnecessary wars and unnecessarily prolonged wars could aptly be called the graveyard of democracy for how they rob time, energy, money and lives that could be spent in far more worthwhile pursuits."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2022, which we can hope is a good year.

Jon Swift Roundup 2020

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

(A Jon Swift picture that captures the spirit of 2020.)

Welcome to the 2020 edition. This year was much, much more eventful than most of us would have liked.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs. As usual, I'll quote Lance Mannion, who nicely explains:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2019 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (As always, my goal is to find the right balance between inclusive and manageable.) Special thanks to DougJ at Balloon Juice for hosting a submissions thread. You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2020.

This has been a rough year for many of us, and in addition to the usual political insights, this year's crop of posts features a number of personal reflections and remembrances. As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Mock, Paper, Scissors
"October Surprised"
Tengrain: "This post showed the intersection of the 2020 Election and pandemic news as the story was breaking fast that Prznint Stupid had caught the disease that he refused to deal with. Karma is a bitch."

You Might Notice a Trend
"What If: Think Of the Future Heading Into Bidenworld"
Paul Wartenberg: "Musing over what needs doing when Biden enters the Presidency, and the potential damage trump and McConnell will throw up to obstruct Biden's rebuilding efforts."

The Rude Pundit
"Oh, Fuck You, Trump Voters. Just Fuck You"
Lee Papa: "The stupidity of Trump voters is wrecking the country, and they should never be forgiven for that."

The Rectification of Names
"A Senate Trial"
Yastreblyansky: "It seems so long ago that Donald Trump was sort of tried for his crimes of attempted bribery and obstruction of Congress and sort of acquitted that we can look back on it almost with nostalgia. My reaction was a 1930s song parody ("A Fine Romance") that didn't get a lot of attention at the time, but I think it was pretty good, plus there's video of Ginger and Fred."

This Is So Gay
"Scripture and Karen Armstrong"
Duncan Mitchel: " Karen Armstrong is a best-selling popularizer of an ecumenical, pan-denominational American style of religion. It may be less socially harmful than some varieties, but it's still wrong."

Just an Earthbound Misfit, I
"J'accuse"
Comrade Misfit: "Musings on why I will never again vote for a Republican."

Brilliant at Breakfast Rebooted
"What will American society look like when this is over?"
Jill: " COVID first wave musings on what "new normal" will look like in post-pandemic America."

Poor Impulse Control
"Underneath A Red Moon"
Tata: "Get yourself some stamps and get in touch with the people who know you for the giant doofus you are: your actual friends."

The Way of Cats
"The Rescue Imperative"
Pamela Merritt: "A random event led to me adopting two feral kitten brothers. I explain it was because I followed a Law of the Universe: The Rescue Imperative."

his vorpal sword
"The Festival of Mendacity™ — Law & Order Edition"
Hart Williams: "Anti-intellectualism threatens the very soul of our democracy: describing (presciently, as it turns out) the fall campaign and the modern GOP by looking at their bizarro-world "convention" – including Matt Gaetz modeling for a DEVO album cover."

David E's Fablog
"The Biggest Loser and His Lawn Jockey Twins"
David Ehrenstein

Show Me Progress
" Edited for Accuracy*"
Michael Bersin: "Nine months later – nothing has changed."

Darwinfish2
"What I love about the Democratic Party"
bluzdude: "In response to a Republican meme intimating that the only thing Democrats have going for them is the hatred of Trump, I wrote a post listing the myriad of reasons I love the Democratic Party."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time
"Death in the time of COVID-19 is different"
Larry Erickson: "My usual pieces report on or analyze some public issue, but something happened in the spring that caused me to write something very personal. I don't know if it's my best of the year, but it's the one means the most to me."

[this space intentionally left blank]
"Shit Mountain Blues: Anti-masking, Open Carry, and the Right to Do Harm"
Dallas Taylor: "How is refusing to mask like open carrying a long gun? Both are assertions of a positive right to do harm, both an affirmation of hierarchical power and a desperate attempt to preserve it in the face of the long arc of history. Neither is doing anyone any good."

Strangely Blogged
We've Seen This Before
Vixen Strangely: "Trump and friends might find their little "coincidences" funny, but I'm not laughing."

Infidel753
The two nations and the new migratory politics
Infidel753: "The United States has become two mutually-hostile nations. The solution is not political separatism, but colonization."

Hysterical Raisins
Corned Beef and Cabbage
nonnie9999: "This is not the snark I usually write. Instead, it is a tribute to my mom and the post dearest to my heart."

annieasksyou.com
"Why I See Kamala's Racial Attack on Joe as a Positive Seminal Moment for Our Country"
Annie: "Many people (myself included) were offended when Kamala Harris attacked Joe Biden during the first Presidential debate for his position on school integration decades earlier. I believe Biden's selecting her as his running mate—and her acceptance—demonstrate fine qualities about them both and bode well for our nation."

M.A.Peel
"The Songs Our Mothers Sang to Us"
Ellen O'Neill: " Yoko Ono told an extremely moving story on Desert Island Discs about her mother in crisis and a song she taught Yoko as a child. My mom taught me the same song, Seems unlikely, but music unites the world. Plus a fabulous rendition by Linda Rondstat and the Muppets.

First Draft
"If Life Were a Capra Movie"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "A Trump removal/impeachment trial reverie."

God's Spies
" '95% Effective' May Not Mean What You Think It Means"
Thomas Neuburger (Gaius Publius as was): " Excessive haste could have fatal consequences, since public trust and wide vaccination are the only ways any vaccine, even the best ones, can work."

World O' Crap
"The Masque of the Orange Death"
Scott Clevenger: "Meet Henry Tifft Gage, the wildly petty and incompetent California governor who showed Donald Trump how to bobble a plague."

driftglass
"The Reagan Revolution at 40: Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair!"
driftglass: "The ruin you see all around you is not because we're four years into the Trump administration. It's because we're 40 years into the Reagan Revolution."

The Professional Left Podcast
"Ep 577: Political University #6 – Define The 'Center' "
Blue Gal chose this episode of her podcast with Driftglass: "Just because Steve Schmidt registered as a Democrat (Welcome to the party, pal!) does NOT make him a "Centrist." We don't let the Right decide what is center, American, or reasonable any more after Donald Trump, period. Also, we are noted experts on the use of the eff bomb."

Perrspectives
"You Can't Put a Mask on My Liberty"
Jon Perr: "My personal law firm of Mr. AR and Mr. Glock are all I need to know my constitutional rights. That means no waiting to get into your store, no keeping six feet away from anyone else and, for damn sure, no face mask."

Balloon Juice
"Pandemic Paranoia Open Thread: Presenting the 'New' Wuhan Coronovirus"
Balloon Juice readers nominated Anne Laurie's series of COVID-19 posts, which started with this one.

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Philip Williams 1926–2020"
Mustang Bobby: "A tribute to my father who died on May 25, 2020 at the age of 93, due to Covid-19. He loved his family and his four children, and as my mom wrote to us, 'please keep his memory enshrined by going forward as he would have you do... giving back and making sure that wherever you are you’re not just sitting, but marching.' "

The New World
"Randy Newman and the Golden Horde"
Gary Koutnik: " 'The New World' began in April as a project to give me something to do, and keep me writing, during what was shaping up to be a very long and strict quarantine (70 y.o., hypertension, etc.). It's thoughts and speculations about what the new world might be like – the world after the pandemic is all over. I began by comparing our journey through the pandemic to Columbus' journey in 1492, and came back to that analogy many times (but not in this post)."

Battle Born Econ
"The Invisible Hand is Wearing PPE"
BattleBornEcon: "My goal as a blogger is to apply my economics background to help people who don't have that understanding grasp what's going on and why. This post is my best example of that. I break down the basics of game theory for a lay audience and relate that to our current COVID reality to explain exactly what we've been seeing since this post was published in May."

The Debate Link
"The Cycle of Republican Acquiescence to Authoritarianism"
David Schraub: "For every GOP lurch towards authoritarianism, a predictable pattern emerges. Prior to the fact, Republican apologists are appalled that anyone would suggest they'd do something so outrageous. Then Trump supports the authoritarian, and Republicans are put in a position of opposing their leader. Then it becomes plausible that the step would succeed, and Republicans are tempted by the allure of ill-gotten authoritarian power. Then they acquiesce. And then the cycle restarts."

Mark Painter
"Chadwick Boseman and Black Panther"
Mark Painter: "My thoughts on the passing of Chadwick Boseman and the meaning of Black Panther to white people."

Bluestem Prairie
"Baldurshof: Third Hof of the Asatru Folk Assembly setting up in Murdock, Minnesota"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "After a tip from a reader in tiny Murdock, Minnesota, I broke the story of a white supremacist pagan band, deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, establishing a little hof on the prairie. The ongoing saga drew national media attention."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Non-Deal-Maker-In-Chief (2-Verse Limerick)"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My 2-verse limerick about Trump's belated interest in the Covid Relief Bill."

Lance Mannion
"Joe among the poets"
Lance Mannion: "Where Joe Biden, Seamus Heaney, Thomas Hardy, and I meet. "So we go back emptied,/ to nourish and resist/ the words of coming to rest:// "birthplace, roofbeam, whitewash,/ flagstone, hearth,/ like unstacked iron weights// afloat among galaxies."

Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
Hillbilly Effigy
Roy Edroso: "Sometimes a movie is so bad it can only be reviewed as a parody."

Vagabond Scholar
"Punishment Conservatives"
Batocchio: " 'Law and order' conservatives don't really support the law, due process or civil rights. They just want to see the people they hate punished."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2021, which we can hope is a happier year.

Jon Swift Roundup 2019

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

(A Jon Swift picture.)

Welcome to the 2019 edition! It's been an interesting year.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs. As usual, I'll quote Lance Mannion, who nicely explains:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2018 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

This year, I have to mention the passing of skippy the bush kangaroo/ Gil Christner, who cofounded Blogroll Amnesty Day with Jon/Al, a blogswarm celebrating smaller blogs. Long-time participant Shaun Mullen of Kiko's House also passed away.

Thanks to all the participants, and apologies to anyone I missed. (As always, my goal is to find the right balance between inclusive and manageable.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2019.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

You Might Notice a Trend
"A Cruel Month for a Cruel Administration"
Paul Wartenberg: "A summary of everything dark and vicious happening under donald trump and Republican rule, and this was BEFORE all the crap about trump extorting Ukraine and things getting worse..."

Just an Earth Bound Misfit, I
"We Never Will Learn"
Comrade Misfit: "A comparison of the War Against Drugs with the War Against Ethanol (Prohibition). It points out that our great-grandparents were a lot smarter than we are."

The Way of Cats
"Cats live in the Now"
Pamela Merritt: "Cats teach me Tao every day."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Open 3-Verse Limerick To Donald Trump"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "My 3-verse limerick message to Trump remains unheeded, but hope springs eternal. (I include an audio version along with my written verse.)"

Strangely Blogged
"Unbearably Hostile. And Also Very Contrite"
Vixen Strangely: "A heated discussion in my blog comments lead to me to unpack my hostility towards third party voting and my fears about the upcoming presidential election."

Show Me Progress
"This morning at the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City"
Michael Bersin: "Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. As part of a grassroots organized "Everyone for Reproductive Rights" rally at the capitol in Jefferson City on June 22, 2019 pro-choice activists marched to the Governor's mansion to confront Mike Parson (r), Missouri's rabid anti-choice governor. After the speeches ended and as they left individually and in small groups activists placed wire coat hangers on the spiked cast iron fence in front of the mansion."

The Rude Pundit
"You Idiots Are Causing 'White Genocide' Yourselves"
Lee Papa: "The dumbasses who shout about "white genocide" support politicians whose policies create the circumstances for the immigration that they fear. But, well, they are dumbasses."

The Rectification of Names
"One Loopy Piehole; and Prolegomena to a Discussion of Russia Sanctions"
Yastreblyansky: "I usually submit what I think is the funniest post of the year, or the most satisfying from a literary point of view, but this year I want to focus on something different; this post starts off with a moderately amusing Fats Waller parody but goes on to one of the big things missing from the Mueller Report: the original! quid pro quo, or what Trump has done to repay V.V. Putin for his assistance in the 2016 election. Three-parter, follow the links at the end of the post."

Poor Impulse Control
"All This And No Surprises"
Tata: "Mental illness, not cancer, killed my mother."

Mock, Paper, Scissors
"Project Purple: Call It By Its Name"
Tengrain: "The "Both Siderists" tried rebranding and we’re having none of it."

[this space intentionally left blank]
"Bringing A Strongly-Worded Letter to a Knife Fight"
Dallas Taylor: "In which I answer the perennial calls for compromise and civility with a reminder that the people we're being asked to compromise with and be civil to are acting in bad faith while they hollow out American democracy in the service of authoritarian oligarchs while the climate we depend on slides further and further into crisis."

Lotus - Surviving a Dark Time
"The Erickson Report, Page 4: A Longer Look at open borders"
LarryE: "On my cable access/YouTube show "The Erickson Report," I have an occasional segment called "A Longer Look," going into some topic in more depth that a 30-minute show normally allows. This time it was on an immigration option that is rarely discussed and which may not be an answer but is surely worth considering: open borders."

Infidel753
"Some further ranting on culture and politics"
Infidel753: "Disengaged, low-information, pop-culture-obsessed voters aren't the ones who got Trump elected, nor are they the ones most likely to tip the scales toward his re-election. The problem lies elsewhere."

Self-Styled Siren
"Olivia (1951)"
The Siren: "It's a superb film (directed by a woman!) that truly deserves a resurrection."

David E's Fablog
"Nancy Finds Her Inner Faye"
David Ehrenstein

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"The Sting"
Mustang Bobby: "Was it enough to just impeach Trump in the House, knowing that the Senate will acquit him? No, it’s not enough. But it’s close."

bjkeefe
"A long but thought-provoking read"
Brendan Keefe: "Some of the reactions I had to Scott Alexander's post, "New Atheism: The Godlessness That Failed." "

The Debate Link
"In Relating to our Black Allies, Jews Need To Stop Being Babies"
David Schraub: "We in the Jewish community has a problem relating to our Black allies: we expect them to be condemn-antisemitism-on-demand toys, and throw a tantrum any time they want to talk about anything else. That's not a mature way to have a relationship among equals."

Perrspectives
POST J"The Most Important Issue for Democrats in 2020? The Courts"
Jon Perr: "Republican control over the Supreme Court isn’t merely putting reproductive rights and marriage equality at risk. The increasingly reactionary federal judiciary at all levels threatens the entire legal basis for post-New Deal government."

M.A.Peel
"History of Two Weeks' Tour Through Switzerland"
Ellen O'Neill: "I went to Switzerland to visit the hometown of my maternal great grandfather. It was an unexpected bonus that I found myself walking in the footsteps of my beloved Romantic Poets, Dumas, Dickens, Twain, et. al. When I got home, I discovered Mary Shelley's own travelogue of her travels with Percy, and the post is an homage to her writing."

First Draft
"The Wind Calls Willard"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Willard Mittbot Romney: Hero or Weathervane? It's up to him."

alicublog
"The So-Called Network."
Roy Edroso: "I was sufficiently amused by Aaron Sorkin, high on his own supply, trying to talk sense to supervillain Mark Zuckerberg that I wrote my own Sorkin script for their encounter."

Special bonus post:
Roy Edroso Breaks It Down
"The bad dog"
Roy Edroso: "Our dog died last summer. Actually she was my wife's dog, but in the course of her dying I put a claim on her, which is what the post is about."

Ramona's Voices
"I Would Make a Better President Than Donald Trump"
Ramona Grigg: "A light-hearted but semi-serious look at an alternative to our first (and hopefully last) dilettante president. Trump has set the bar so low even I could do a better job. One look at my cabinet choices should cement this whole idea."

World O’ Crap
"Corner Man"
Scott Clevenger: "Scott sits down with Hall of Fame boxing trainer and Fox Sports commentator Joe Goossen to talk about the Ruelas Brothers, two young Mexican boys who wandered into his gym one day while selling candy door to door and refused to leave until he made them world champions. He didn’t want to…but he did."

Thomas Neuburger (at Down With Tyranny)
"Why Everyone in the U.S. Who Counts Wants Julian Assange Dead"
Thomas Neuburger: "By many miles my most-read post of the year, picked up on sites both left and right. The world as currently run not only wants Assange dead, they want him hated. Generating that hate is the process we're watching today. The death will follow shortly."

his vorpal sword
"Law With No Rules"
Hart Williams: "Going through the last year's posts, I was astonished at how prescient this was, predicting very accurately the issues that would lead to impeachment ten months and four days later. It also contains an important warning as to how democracies die that bears repeating."

Bluestem Prairie
"MN01: the hostile world of Hagedorn town halls, updated with videos of Mankato area meetings"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "Freshman Republican Representative Jim Hagedorn faces hostile crowds across his Southern Minnesota district. He doesn't help himself with hostile answers about suicide, climate action, and other topics."

Spocko's Brain
"What To Do If A Trump Supporter Threatens You"
Spocko: "I'm very proud of this piece because it describes how to successfully deal with an online bully."

Brilliant at Breakfast Rebooted
"18 Years On – When Is It Time To Stop?"
Jill: "Musings on whether it's time to let the 9/11 dead finally rest."

This Is So Gay
"Caress, Fondle, Nuzzle the Hair of Your Feelings"
Duncan Mitchel: "The First Amendment guarantees your right to be marginalized, offended, and to feel like an outcast. Celebrate it!"

Doctor Cleveland
"Shakespeare Wasn't Perfect"
Doctor Cleveland: "Why do people keep coming up with ever less plausible candidates as the “real” Shakespeare? Because we can’t accept his flaws."

driftglass
"The Bonfire of the Sanities"
driftglass: "Meet Mr. Michael Gerson: former George W. Bush chief speechwriter, senior Republican policy adviser and reliable Beltway Republican stalactite who now exists in a perpetual state of shock that his Republican Party is full of Republicans."

Blue Gal/The Professional Left Podcast
"Ep 524: Impeachment Articles At Last, and a Convo with Jay Rosen"
Blue Gal: "A brief discussion of our reaction to impeachment. . . . and a long discussion with Jay Rosen of Pressthink.org."

Special bonus post:
Crooks and Liars
"Rachel Maddow And Meghan McCain: A Study In Contrasts"
Frances Langum: "This post is one of my favorites from this year, a takedown of Meghan McCain."

Vagabond Scholar
"Bred for Circuses"
Batocchio: "Conservatives and Republicans can't win many arguments on the merits, so they try to reduce everything to an us-versus-them battle. Authoritarianism, a propaganda network, and outsized media personas are a big help for this."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging and everything else in 2020, which promises to be an eventual year.