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Your Picks for the Best and Worst of 2021
A lot of websites and podcasts are sharing their year-end lists and I thought Ricochet members should have their own. Here are the categories; you can share your picks in the comments below. (Mine will be in the comments as well since I’m more interested in your choices than mine.) You can interpret these categories any way you see fit. Happy list-making!
- Best/Worst Republican Politician of 2021
- Best/Worst Democrat Politician of 2021
- Best/Worst Political Play of 2021
- Most Underreported/Overreported Story of 2021
- Best Movie of 2021
- Best TV Show of 2021
- Best Book of 2021
- Best Podcast (on Ricochet or elsewhere) of 2021
Best/Worst Republican Politician of 2021
Ron DeSantis- best governor in the country killing it in every way.
Adam Kinzinger- let Trump turn his brain to mush and killed his political future.
Best/Worst Democrat Politician of 2021
Jared Polis- can’t stand him but he was able to remain popular in Colorado while also paying lip service to masking but recently announced he’s not going to mandate masking (or presumably vaxxing). As far as Dem governors go, he’s better than CA, NY, MI, and others.
Biden- turned 50+ percent approval into disapproval. He’s the worst president of my lifetime, and right now I’d say he’s a bottom 5 president.
Best/Worst Political Play of 2021
best- everything FL did regarding Covid.
worst- Afghan surrender
Most Underreported/Overreported Story of 2021
over-reported- Jan 6. It was a minor riot that wasn’t as bad as a hundred major riots the prior summer.
under-reported- West-Taiwan’s human rights violations and military threat. We need to treat them like we did the USSR.
Best Movie of 2021
I didn’t watch any new films.
Best TV Show of 2021
The Witcher season 2
Best Book of 2021
Rigged- Hemingway
Best Podcast (on Ricochet or elsewhere) of 2021
Easily “The Ruthless Podcast”. Get on board, minions.
There are no good politicians.
There is no good reporting.
Thinking about politics in terms of ‘plays’ is part of what has led us to this pass.
’Free Guy’ was pretty good.
I think people on the right would do well to pay attention to Michael Malice.
Same thing with David Stockman.
They may be wrong about some things but you need to be able to explain it.
The list of bad things is just unbelievably long and horrible.
Well said.
There weren’t any sports categories, because we’re nerds I guess. So, let me throw out a few.
Best/Worst Game of the Year:
Best: Michigan beating Ohio State, duh,
Worst: Super Bowl LV, the usual overhyped yawner, this year with an extra helping of woke.
Best/Worst Athlete of the Year:
Best: J.J. Watt. Gentleman, patriot, and generous.
Worst: Megan Rapahoe
The under-reported stories of the year was the effectiveness of various treatments in early treatment of Covid infections. The media went out of their way to ensure that the only acceptable responses to Covid were what Fauci and Pfizer wanted. Adjunct to this, the story of how the CDC conspired to bury the Barrington Declaration; which turned out to be far more right on how to deal with the “pandemic.”
Also under-reported, the Waukegan mass-murder story that disappeared faster than a plate of tortilla chips at Ana Navarro’s house when the murderer didn’t fit the media’s preferred narrative.
And how about the most (deliberately) misreported stories of the year. So many nominations here.
Wait until next week and the one year anniversary. I think CNN has a whole day of shows planned for it.
I dread it. If we really cared about our freedoms, we’d be out in the streets that day demanding the release of Pelosi’s political prisoners.
I wonder where are you dependably donate for that.
CNN is the Pornhub of January 6th coverage.
Rick De Santis/Liz Cheney
2. Best/Worst Democrat Politician of 2021
Joe Manchin/President Kamala Harris
3. Best/Worst Political Play of 2021
Florida standing up to the federal COVID mandates/ bug-out from Afghanistan
4 Most Underreported/Overreported Story of 2021
The geopolitical tension in Eastern Europe / January 6th protests
5. Best Movie of 2021
Best movie made in 2021? I have no idea. I have seen nothing made in this year. Now, best movie I have watched in 2021 and which was new to me? Battleground directed by William Wellman
6. Best TV Show of 2021
The Mandalorian: Season 2. It gave Luke Skywalker the ending he deserved unlike those garbage films from what’s her name.
7. Best Book of 2021
Non-Fiction: Speechless, Controlling Speech, Controlling Minds by Michael Knowles
Fiction: Monster Hunter: Bloodlines
8, Best Podcast (on Ricochet or elsewhere) of 2021
Does having a video component disqualify an entry? If no, Dennis Prager’s Fireside Chat. If so, Writer Dojo by Larry Correia and Steve Diamond.
I see what you did there. . .
“Let’s go, Brandon!” was the bright spot of 2021. It’s great to know people can still laugh and have fun. It gives hope that maybe, just maybe, the left’s death grip is beginning to loosen.
Best Republican Politician of 2021
Ron De Santis – Governor of Florida. He is extremely effective on the Covid front and the immigration front while protecting the interests of his constituents.
Worst Republican Politician of 2021
Mitch McConnell – Republican “Leader” of the Senate. He should be taking to the floor of the Senate every day reminding everyone of the Biden Administration’s failures. He should be laying as many landmines as possible. He should be insisting on a vote for BBB, for example. Put the Democrats on record or show that they are essentially cowards if they do not. He is useless.
I think McConnell is far worse than Cheney, Kinziger, etc. because McConnell is supposed to be a leader and he provides no leadership from a very public position.
Best Democrat Politician of 2021
All the Democrat Senators who were able to hide behind Joe Manchin keeping them from having to publicly commit for or against BBB.
Worst Democrat Politician of 2021
Joe Biden. He is leading his party to disaster. I don’t think that is necessarily a good thing. I think Republicans are almost as useless and will overreach if not kept in check.
Best Political Play of 2021
Biden makes it easy for Republicans. Too easy?
Worst Political Play of 2021
Everything the Biden administration is doing is out of step with what most Americans want. So, picking one is difficult. Joe overpromises and underdelivers always.
So the final answer: Democrats electing Joe Biden as President.
Most Underreported Story of 2021
The ongoing investigation into Chinese penetration of the NIH. There are reportedly 500 targets at NIH. 500! There was the conviction of Charles Lieber, the head of the Chemistry/Biochemistry Department at Harvard. But he evidently is the tip of the iceberg. It should also lead to bigger questions about NIH, the government in general, and our universities while providing a template for how the Chinese penetrate our institutions.
Most Overreported Story of 2021
The coming Republican wave of 2022. Still wishful thinking.
Best Movie and TV of 2021
I will deal with these together as Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, etc. have really blurred the lines.
Squid Games.
Best Book of 2021
The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066
Marc Morris
https://www.amazon.com/Anglo-Saxons-Making-England-410-1066-ebook/dp/B085GKJN1N/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
A highly readable story of the Anglo-Saxons, how and why they displaced the Roman World, how and why Britain had to re-Christianize. Interestingly, the book deals with historiography: the contradictions of archaeological evidence to the chronicle narrative. That part may seem dull and dry, but Morris makes it interesting.
With every blue state gerrymander and every Democrat expansion of “voting rights” a red wave becomes less likely.
I’ve only watched one TV show this year, Dexter: New Blood. I’m enjoying it.
Best Podcast:
1. Best/Worst Republican Politician of 2021
Best: Another vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Close second is incoming VA governor Glenn Youngkin. May he do much good in office.
Worst: All the GOP Congressional reps who voted in favor of impeachment. Why can’t we have party discipline like the Dems do? Saving grace: most of ‘em trashed their political careers in the process.
2. Best/Worst Democrat Politician of 2021
Best: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. I still think she’s playing a long game and bears close watching, but her important choices are ones I agree with (so far).
Worst: President Joe Biden, AKA President Ron Burgundy. Such a disaster. I can hardly bear to watch even short clips of him speaking on TV.
3. Best/Worst Political Play of 2021
Best: Sen. Manchin blocking BBB, at least for now.
Worst: Teachers’ union officials all over the country who kept pushing for schools to stay closed, long past when it had been amply demonstrated that kids don’t get or spread COVID easily. This backfired spectacularly by a) allowing parents to see online what their kids were actually being taught and b) inconveniencing and angering parents in myriad ways (e.g., alternate child care arrangements, overloaded internet access from everyone in the household having to be online simultaneously).
4. Most Underreported/Overreported Story of 2021
Underreported: the Pelosi political prisoners. It’s wrong on so many levels.
Overreported: Jan. 6 “riot.” I came down with COVID on January 3rd, and was sleeping a lot that week. I heard the news reports on Jan 6, thought it sounded like much ado about very little, and went back to sleep. Couldn’t believe it when the Dems turned it into their very own Reichstag fire. Still can’t.
5. Best Movie of 2021
I didn’t see any new movies this year. I don’t think there were any worth seeing.
6. Best TV Show of 2021
I watch “Gutfeld” almost every weeknight, and really enjoy it except for Greg’s plugs for drug legalization.
7. Best Book of 2021
“Rigged” by Mollie Hemingway.
8. Best Podcast (on Ricochet or elsewhere) of 2021
Another fan of “Ruthless” here. They mock the Dems better than anyone else I’ve heard. The Ron Klain game, Dem or Journo, etc.
She was a shameless whack job progressive prior to the senate.
When Jay sticks to what he knows best, he is excellent.
Another good one is Pat Buchanan
Need another category, best and worst federal agency. Warning, this isn’t an easy question. The former has few candidates, the latter has many.
I’m well aware of that. That is a prime reason she needs to be watched closely.
Great question! For best, my guess would be FEMA……even though I don’t approve of federalizing disaster relief, they seem to know what they’re doing. Caveat: I have no direct personal experience.
Worst has to be the politicized FBI and DoJ.
As a group, everyone who fell for the Jan 6th insurrection narrative and withdrew their objections to the election certification out of cowardice.
A tie between 1) The ongoing political persecution and denial of due-process for Americans in D.C.
2) Vaccine injuries and deaths.
because nobody in the MSM or corporate “conservative” media is reporting on them.
Hysterical Covid statistics/variants and their importance.
Conservative Daily
I think we can all agree on what the worst Ricochet post was.