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Best Posts of 2016
Friends, as 2016 comes to a close, we want to highlight some of the best writing from our community this year. However, we have a small problem: Every year we have so much great writing here on Ricochet, that it’s easy to overlook some of the best stuff. So we’re hoping you can help us out.
We’re going to have two categories: Best Post by a Member and Best Post by a Contributor or Staff Member. You can help us out by nominating posts for our consideration.
Here’s how it works:
Everybody gets two nominations, one for each category. If you want to go back through your own posts and nominate yourself, please do. Great writing is great writing.
The year is quickly winding down, so we’re only going to leave the nomination window until Sunday at midnight (Pacific Time), so if you know a member who hasn’t made their picks, feel free to drop them a line before time is up.
This isn’t a popularity contest, so there’s no point in nominating the same thing multiple times. (But if you like a nomination, feel free to hit that “like” button.) After that, we’re going to narrow them down and pick the best ones and you’ll see the results next week!
Published in General
http://ricochet.com/398475/more-nukes-more-nukes/
More nukes by TKP
Among my bookmarks are:
“What temperature should the planet Be?” by Dr Bastiat (Member)
“The Thing Most Needful” by Paul A Rahe (Contributor)
My nomination for best member post of 2016 was this one by Pencilvania, from May:
http://ricochet.com/archives/im-flagging-myself/
Judge Mental’s account of 9-11 from his apartment near the WTC: Witness, Part 2
There are other notable pieces by other members (I hate to mention others without mentioning them all), but JM’s personal account was gripping.
Contributors: Anything by Dave Carter or new contributor Michael Henry.
There are many terrific posters on Ricochet. I would say Dave Carter remains one of my favorites. And everything by a newer member Michael Henry is too good to miss.
If I have to choose only one Dave Carver piece for 2016 it will be “A progessive’s guide to decoding a Trump voter.” For Michael Henry it will be “Early, Early voting” for nailing one of my pet political peeves with great humor.
For contributor I’ll vote for Annika Hernroth-Rothstein if for nothing else for the plain chutzpah of going to Iran, twice, and writting openly about it.
http://ricochet.com/archives/one-jew-iran-one-supreme-leader-one-bad-deal/
This is a fine idea. Maybe I’ll think of a Contributor post later, but for Member post I’m putting up I, Circuit Board by @skipsul. If there were an award for a series of Member posts, that would properly go to Ricochet Silent Radio by @garymcvey.
You need to be more specific.
Question for the editors, what if the member post was flagged for not promotion to the main feed? If you are going to put the winners on the main feed with links that could be a problem.
I have two, both from the same author, @majestyk.
First is a great piece on organ donation:
http://ricochet.com/369270/redesigning-the-organ-donation-market/
The second is a lot of fun, especially in how wrong he is:
http://ricochet.com/347542/resolved-lt-commander-data-is-not-a-person/
She’s post on gratitude.
http://ricochet.com/382606/gratitude-for-michael-or-why-ill-still-be-here-a-week-from-now/
My satirical best ..
http://ricochet.com/archives/menstand-up-for-your-rights-at-the-ladies-urinal/
Obviously if it’s flagged not to go on the Main feed, it won’t be put on the main feed. But you should probably go ahead and nominate it.
@judgemental’s, @skipsul‘s, and @she‘s pieces mentioned above are all truly excellent.
Remembering that 2016 includes an entire year, and realizing it’s easiest to dig through my own archives, I found this, from back in March:
Where Affordable, Altruistic Healthcare Goes to Die
When I wrote this, I had been meaning to write about mutual aid societies for a while, and an item in the news had just made them particularly topical. Maybe the real reason I’m nominating this piece is because of the topic: mutual-aid societies seem a mostly-forgotten part of American history that’s vital to remember in the search for workable alternatives to a stultifying welfare state:
Fairly new member, but he has kept me in stitches these last few weeks: @michaelhenry. If I have to pick but one of his, I think I would nominate his latest: “Polls Apart.” The first paragraph alone eclipses many posts.
Contributor post is a harder decision, but I believe I shall go with Dave Carter’s “On Being Sadistically Healthy.”
Member David Deeble’s salute to the plasitc bag.
The PIT.
(Someone had to say it.)
The PIT is not about the writing of the OP. It is all about the comments.
There’s an OP?
Yes, Skip did it this time. I’m not sure if he counts as staff, since he is a moderator, or just a member since he isn’t paid. Either way, it still leaves you with one nomination in the other category.
I think we need a ruling from the judges on this. Are moderators staff? Are they The Powers that Be, or only The Powers that Wannabe?
For purposes of this, the moderators are members.
@skipsul fans–that means everyone–should check out his fictional Thanksgiving story. Also, his That Pioneering Spirit series on traveling cross country with the family.
But his post about abortion is haunting. It may be before 2016, though.
It was early this year. And thanks!
http://ricochet.com/archives/the-unwanted-child-a-rumination-on-the-anniversary-of-roe-vs-wade/
@whiskeysam, @franksoto, and @cudouglas all took their turns this year too.
Hey. We are gonna keep this open for a little while longer. So if you haven’t yet, please nominate a piece of writing!
And if you’d rather nominate publicly, you can always send me an email (fred@ricochet.com) or a pm and I’ll make sure it gets to where it needs to go.
Here are the ones I thought were the best posts (besides my own, of course, like how I met Mrs. iWe):
Wonderful, wonderful story: Judge Mental
Gobsmacking. She
Laundry Ad. Superb at getting us to think critically about the sort of thing one usually ignores.
anonymous on Tesla, and on Buran.
But best of all? HANDS DOWN – Cargo Cult Science. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Maybe so, but no one here is Tolstoy or Shakespeare, so let’s dispense with the pretentiousness and pedantry. Who was right?
Member Nominee
Let’s face it, Republican unity will Be much easier than Democrat unity. : @bloodthirstyneocon
_________________________________________________
Contributor Nominee
Power of the Purse: @PaulRahe
Since others are breaking the rules about only 1 nomination (which is good because there were some great ones this year):
@thekingprawn – http://ricochet.com/389020/no-thank-you/
@ryanm – http://ricochet.com/359960/the-cult-and-the-heresy/
@garymcvey – http://ricochet.com/393635/want-to-tell-hollywood-youre-fired-heres-how/
@bossmongo – http://ricochet.com/archives/on-military-driving-and-wily-cajuns/
@midge – http://ricochet.com/388415/female-fantasies-the-nose-knows/
@sonofspengler – http://ricochet.com/archives/the-things-we-own/
There are plenty of others I could pick, but these were among my favorites of the year.
Aren’t we being a little premature? After all, there are a few more days left in the year, and I’ve yet to make the winning post. Hehe . . .