Jon Swift Memorial Roundup 2015

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

(A 2008 Jon Swift picture, relevant every presidential election season.)

Welcome to a tradition 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 Lance Mannion put it in 2010:

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 2007 and 2008 editions. Meanwhile, here are the revivals from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

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

Meanwhile, Blogroll Amnesty Day (cofounded by Jon Swift and skippy) is a celebration of small blogs coming up again the first weekend in February.

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 #jonswift2015.

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:

The Professional Left Podcast
Episode 295 (July 31, 2015): "Is Cecil the Lion a Proxy War?"
Blue Gal: "Cecil the Lion – Environmental crime and misplaced rage."

A Blog About School
"Standardized tests and your cat’s body mass index"
Chris Liebig

Infidel753
"Long war, decisive battle"
Infidel753: "Why does the right wing invest the fight against gay rights with such existential importance? Deep down they know it's a crucial part of a much longer and more fundamental conflict over the essential nature and identity of our civilization."

You Might Notice a Trend
"Insanity Is Repeating the Same Shooting Over And Over Again and Expecting a Safer Gun-Happy Result"
Paul Wartenberg: "The United States is under attack from itself as a minor group of gun-worshiping sociopaths allow – and in some ways encourage – shooting deaths on a daily basis just so they can proclaim their devotion to a metal god of death."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"St. Boehner???"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "3-Verse Limerick mocking the so-called "sacrifice" John Boehner made in giving up his Speakership."

World O' Crap
"World's Worst Toys R Us Spokesmodel"
Scott Clevenger: "Who can forget Sabrina Corgatelli, the sultry, seductive Idaho accountant who went to Africa, wrapped a dead giraffe around her body like a mink stole, and sang "Blood Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"? "

The Debate Link
"Anti-Semitism as Structural and the Iran Deal Debate"
David Schraub: "Many critics of the Iran Nuclear Deal have contended that deal proponents have engaged in anti-Semitic rhetoric; proponents have roundly rejected the charge. Both camps, I argue, are mistaken in the processes by which anti-Semitism operates and has its effect in contemporary society."

Kiko's House
"When Things Fell Seriously Apart & The Center Didn't Hold"
Shaun D. Mullen: " We'll motor past how the brilliant Yeats, as prescient as he could be, foresaw this political season and the coming of Donald Trump nearly 100 years ago in his classic dirge for the decline of civilization, but today even the best in the overcrowded Republican field seem to lack all conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity, and surely some revelation is at hand. Or so we should fear."

Zencomix
"Beyond Here There Be Dragoons"
Dave Dugan: "Watercolor, Pen & ink on handmade paper, about 8 cm x 11 cm for each image, contained in a small gift box with a velcro closure, decorated with white exterior house paint and india ink, marking 70 years of goddamn nuclear weapons..."

Pruning Shears
"On the sorry state of American fascism"
Dan: "A look at some of the more hyperbolic claims about so-called 'PC culture.' "

David E's Fablog
"Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa"
David Ehrenstein: "It's about how Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" is as valid today as it was in 1960 in showing how the media actually works."

Experiential Pagan
"Innocence Lost"
Syrbal/Labrys: "A brief memory that proves 'the more things change, the LESS they stay the same' – at least for a female."

Confession Zero
"With the Wind it Shall"
Mark Prime offers a poem.

Scrutiny Hooligans
"Sellin' the big nothin' "
Tom Sullivan: "In the military we hold up as representing America's highest ideals, it's all esprit de corps and teamwork. Yet outside the base perimeter in Anytown, USA, it's screw you, I’ve got mine. (Cross-posted from Hullabaloo.)"

Strangely Blogged
"47 Dumbass Ronin"
Vixen Strangely: "The idea that 47 actual US Senators got together to show this particular letter and their behinds off to the world struck me as a suggestion that perhaps they hated President Obama more than they even liked their country."

Simply Left Behind
"How to Defeat Terrorism"
actor212: "Thirty years of war (going back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) has done nothing but make more rabid dogs. That's a failed policy. This is not a war against people, it's a war against an ideology – the ideology of jihad – and every time we've bombed a country, we created more enemies as we've attempted to wipe out that ideology."

Real American Liberal
"Diving into the Abortion Debate"
John Sheirer: "I tried to have a civil, reasonable discussion about abortion on the Internet. The results were even more disturbing than I anticipated."

Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I
"Republicans May Be Perfidious Bastards, But the Democrats Are Still Idiots"
Comrade Misfit: "Essentially, why the Democrats' focus on gun control will hurt them."

Shakesville
"Jeanie Bueller's Day of Feminist Killjoying"
Melissa McEwan: "In which I reconsider "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" 30 years later and discover that I'm rooting for little sister Jeanie Bueller, who huffs and eyerolls and shouts indignantly through the film, a perfect picture of injustice in a pink cardigan."

Spocko's Brain
"Mr. Robot Will Scratch The Corporate Justice Problem in Your Brain"
Spocko: "Mr. Robot was the most fascinating TV show I watched this year. The lead, Elliot, is a cyber-security engineer by day and vigilante hacker by night. His target is "Evil Corp" a sort of BofA, Goldman Sachs, Monsanto, JPMorganChase combo. In this post I reviewed the pilot and anticipated the ethical, technical, financial and human issues it will grapple with over the season."

M.A.Peel
"The Songs Our Mothers Sang to Us"
Ellen O'Neill: "The news of the BBC's discovery of Diana Rigg's Desert Island Disc lead me to their wonderful website. Where I stumbled on Yoko Ono's desert selections, and her anecdote about a particular song & her mother poignantly, surprisingly linked her to me and my mom."

Kathleen Maher's Pure Fiction
"If He Wished"
Fiction by Kathleen Maher.

Poor Impulse Control
"The World Is the World"
Tata: "You can be a different person every day, and by you, I mean me."

Mock Paper Scissors
"Hell Hath No Fury Like A Boomer Scorned"
Tengrain: "MoDo writes a poisoned pen letter to Hillary Clinton using Joe and Beau Biden as the ink."

The Rectification of Names
"What's to stop me from marrying my television?—Ross, I think you did."
Yastreblyansky: "Back in May, as we were all awaiting the Obergefell decision, Monsignor Ross Douthat, Apostolic Nuncio to 42nd Street, decided to show us how marriage equality was going to lead to polygamy for all, and then how are you liberals going to like that? Spoiler: He was wrong."

Indomitable
"American Exceptionalism? ISIS and the Christian Right are More Alike Than Different"
Chauncey DeVega: "The American Christian Right-wing and ISIS are much more alike than different. This truth is upsetting because American Exceptionalism is based on a lie. On matters of violence, extreme religion, anti-Cosmopolitanism, and a yearning for End Times battles between countries ruled "god's law" ISIS and the American Christian Dominionists and Reconstructionists are in almost total agreement."

driftglass
"At The Pillory Clinton Hearing"
driftglass: "An experimental, real-time, free-form, impressionistic interpretation of the Hillary Clinton Benghaaaazi show trial in October."

The Way of Cats
"The difference between dogs and cats"
Pamela Merritt: "Dogs do sports. Cats do theater. They are two very different kinds of pets, and require two wildly different approaches for care and training."

Anibundel: Pop Culturess
"Good Morning and Welcome to Force Friday"
Ani Bundel: "In case you haven't heard, today the 4th will be with you. But it's not May the 4th, the organic holiday that sprung up in the Star Wars community in the last decade. Today is a different fourth. One invented by Disney, to go along with their marketing department's plans for total Star Wars world domination."

Self-Styled Siren
"Claude Rains: An Actor's Side-Eye"
Farran Smith Nehme: "My posting rate slowed considerably this year, but this was by far the most popular thing I wrote for the blog. Sifting through stills from all stages of the career of the great Rains was a wonderful experience."

Perrspectives
"Sorry, Jeb. Your Brother Did Create ISIS."
Jon Perr: "Jeb Bush got schooled by a 19 year-old college student who informed him, "You brother created ISIS." Or to put in terms even Republican myth-makers can understand: ISIS? George W. Bush built that."

The Rude Pundit
"America Has Become a Second Amendment Death Cult"
Lee Papa: "The United States is on the same road as the Mayans and the Aztecs as we shoot ourselves into oblivion."

Ramona's Voices
"As Long As There Is A Constitution, The GOP Can't Win"
Ramona Grigg: "So the crazies won the 2014 midterms. What, me worry? Yes, me worry."

[this space intentionally left blank]
"I Read Only Books by Women For a Year: Here’s What Happened"
Dallas Taylor: "Post details the experience and results of a year spent reading only books by women: why I did it (as both writer and reader), what it was like, what I learned from it, and how it changed me. Concludes with encouragement for the reader to try the same, or at least examine the reasons for refusing to do so."

Doctor Cleveland
"Winnowing the GOP Field with Jane Austen"
Doctor Cleveland AKA Jim Marino: "Demonstrates the Pareto principle with the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice and then applies it to the crowded GOP primary field, showing which candidates have never been in the running. A post so crazy it just might work."

The Hunting Of The Snark
"Guts And Glory: The Story Of Ross Douthat"
Susan of Texas: "This is a review of Ross Douthat's book about his years at Harvard, Privilege: Harvard And The Education Of The Ruling Class. In this book we see how the son of "ex-hippies" reshaped himself into an authoritarian thought leader without becoming either thoughtful or a leader."

The Inverse Square
"We Have a Problem With Guns"
Tom Levenson: "Guns are not toys. They’re profit centers. As long as we accept that, we get the culture — political and more — that might be expected. This post is another way of writing how sick I am of having to say In Memoriam…."

Show Me Progress
"The Bill of Rights applies to everyone, right?"
Michael Bersin: "An interview with anti-Obama open carrying teabaggers flying large Confederate battle flags (among others) in an overpass protest on U.S. 50 in west central Missouri."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time
"Only the poor face drug tests to receive any public aid or benefit"
LarryE (Larry Erickson): "The content should be clear from the title: Drug testing of the poor – and only of the poor – to qualify for a public benefit is expanding."

Eunoia
"Timetraveller's' Reunion
Ole Phat Stu: "Some of the consequences of time travel."

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Gay Day at the Supreme Court"
Mustang Bobby: "Written on the morning of oral arguments for marriage equality before the Supreme Court in April: 'If I cannot be treated the same way as everyone else for no other reason than an innate quality such as sexual preference, then the rest of those rights, however noble, are meaningless.' "

Empire Of The Senseless
"Hold my Life"
zombie rotten mcdonald: "A review of the recent Replacements reunion shows, and reminiscence…"

and that's the way it was
"Don’t help ISIS get what it wants"
Derek Davison: "I'm my own worst critic when it comes to evaluating my writing, but this piece, written in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attack, is the most widely-read and shared thing I've ever written for my own blog. I try to explain why overreacting to ISIS's terrorism—by rejecting refugees, by turning on Muslims living in our own communities, by panicking—is giving the terrorists exactly what they want and what they need to perpetuate their message"

This Is So Gay
"Onward, Christian Soldiers"
Duncan Mitchel: "If you're using the Bible to hurt people, you're using it wrong: you should be using a sword, or a battle axe, as the Lord intended. You can't do any serious, God-breathed damage with a floppy leather-covered book!"

Checking Out Your Shorts
"Behind the Politics – Scott Walker"
paleotectonics: ""VH-1 Behind The Music meets the Scott Walker Campaign, takes much acid."

Gaius Publius
"Climate Change, the "Free Market" & the California Drought"
Gaius Publius offers an overview of the situation.

Bluestem Prairie
"No small potatoes: Dept of Natural Resources requires EAW for pinelands to spud fields project"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "When the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced a discretionary environmental assessment worksheet (EAW) for an area where the R.D. Offutt Company, America's largest potato company, been buying forest land and converting it to potato fields, bushels of money set the stage for a later withdrawal of the study."

Balloon Juice
"It’s a Giant Fucking Mystery Wrapped Inside A Riddle Inside an Enigma"
John Cole sounds off about the "enigma" of the Planned Parenthood shooting.

p3: Persuasion, Perseverance, and Patience
"Sunday morning toons: Fear of a Trump planet! And other horrors."
Nothstine: "A December 2015 edition of p3's weekly round up of political cartoons (with a dash of Golden Age animation). This week the theme was Fear!"

Mister Tristan
"Liars"
Gary, a relative of Mister Tristan: "Liars' pants should actually burst into flames. Brian Williams paid a price for lying about Iraq; Dick Cheney, not so much."

alicublog
"Roots"
Roy Edroso: "It’s less overtly political than most of my stuff, but also (I hope) funnier."

bjkeefe
"Now THAT's something to ponder"
Brendan Keefe: "Since I haven't been writing much at length lately, I'll pass along one of the most fun things I read this past year."

Schrodinger's Cat: Many Worlds and One Cat
"Bihar Gives India a Diwali Gift: An In-Depth Analysis of the Assembly Elections"
schroedinger's cat: "I analyze the state assembly elections held in the Indian state of Bihar where Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a humiliating defeat. I explore what this means for India now in the context of the recent past and in the historical context."

Lance Mannion
"Nobody's unbreakable, not even Kimmy Schmidt"
Lance Mannion: "The premise of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt isn't comic. It's tragic. A real evil has been inflicted upon Kimmy and her friends from the bunker and, whatever the outcome of the trial, the villain has gotten away with it. What he did to the four women cannot be undone. The comedy is in Kimmy's determination to survive the evil."

Vagabond Scholar
"Blogiversary X: 10 Posts That Shook the World (or Slightly Amused a Dozen People)"
Batocchio: "I didn't write much this year, but this post links the best pieces of my first decade by category."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging (and everything else) in 2016.