I’ve done this every January 1st since 2007, but I almost skipped it this year. I think burnout is getting to me. But I decided to do it anyway, so here we go.
January brought the single most popular post here ever. My dad sent me the link in an email, and since I put it up on January 11 (according to Google Analytics) it’s drawn 396,497 hits: That’s not Recoil, THIS is RECOIL. And 144 comments without a peep from Markadelphia. Yup, a YouTube video. Somebody ELSE’s YouTube video.
In February another YouTube video post became the #2 all-time traffic draw with 129,711 hits so far and counting: THIS Might Make Me Want to Try Shotgunning. Why do I bother with überposts?
In March, we lost another blogger. Newbius passed away. I know more people online who have died than I know in meatspace, and as I get older that list gets longer. The first death of an online personality that really affected me was when Acidman passed in June of 2006. Rob Smith is, in a way, responsible for the existence of this blog. But it’s still a shock when someone known to you is no longer there. Fair winds to them all.
I had another very popular post – again, someone else’s work – when I posted the story of J. David Phillips and his last-ditch self-defense: The .25ACP and “Stopping Power”
April brought us the conclusion of the GOP primary race, and the Quote of the Year that predicted, somewhat, the outcome in November:
Given how the GOP field has been winnowed, this has really just been a race to determine the form Gozer the Traveler takes.
So this just means the giant Sloar is off the table and means is we’re looking between the moving Torb and the Staypuff Marshmellow man.— Jack
And, of course, the accompanying T-Shirt. Also in April, I drank the Kool-Aid and bought an M&P9.
Speaking of traditions, May 1 is now Victims of Communism Day. I intend to commemorate it every year. I bought a new AR lower. Those are thin on the ground these days. And TSM turned nine years old and drew its 3,000,000th visitor, and that ain’t bad.
Instead of original content (who reads that?) in June I posted a series of Quotes of the Day from educator John Taylor Gatto’s The Underground History of American Education. Twelve of them, in fact.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled on the Constitutionality of Obamacare. A 5-4 decision, written by Chief Justice Roberts, said it was. I took exception.
I was introduced to the concept of “hyperindividualism.” And finally, on the event of Milton Friedman’s 100th birthday, I posted a video of an excellent speech he gave in 1978 at the University of Chicago. I strongly recommend you watch it.
In relation to that video, in early August I posted a Quote of the Day in apposition to one from the video illustrating the ongoing decline Friedman warned about, preceded the previous day by a QotD that illustrates why I think this is happening. Meanwhile in Sarah Brady Paradise, their criminals have apparently started using hand-grenades. I thought that only happened in Mexico. How’s that gun control (on an island no less) working out for them?
September brought the Seventh Annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but this year instead of driving, I got to fly up. In a Cessna 310. Still haven’t won a gun there, though. And over in Sarah Brady Paradise, a cop-killer used a hand-grenade in the double-murder of two female Bobbys. And Markadelphia returned to the comment threads. If you see a post with 50+ comments, chances are Markadelphia is in it at least once.
October brought us a preview of coming attractions I thought should be shared, and another from closer to home. I finally concluded that Anthropogenic Global Warming Climate Change is bullshit based on the evidence in hand. And I made my grandson a kick-ass Halloween costume.
November. Ah yes, November. I think the country reached the point of no return in November. Honestly, it happened long before November, but the election ended any speculation on the question. As I said, OUR Austerity Riots are going to be SPECTACULAR!
And finally, December. First post of the month, How We “Lost the Culture War.” Not an überpost, but I’ve kinda lost my enthusiasm for those. There was some good news – Illinois’ ban on concealed carry was found unconstitutional. And we had another mass shooting, this time involving twenty dead first-graders. For the gun-banners, they couldn’t have dreamed of a better pool of blood to dance in. But Newtown, Connecticut is not Dunblane, Scotland. America’s response? There’s not an AR-15 left on a gun store shelf, nor a standard-capacity magazine to fit one. Seven thousand AR-15 rifles sold in Arizona in ten days, according to the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association.
SPECTACULAR, I tell you.
2013? Maybe there’s something behind Triskaidekaphobia after all.
Happy New Year, y’all.