The Ricochet Member Feed: The Greatest Hits ‘Best Of’ Edition
Plus, our Ricochet December All-Access Free Membership Ends Soon!
Yeah, we know … Our idea for the top 10 Member Feed posts of the year got a wee bit complicated. We wanted to focus on posts that went on the Member Feed but were not promoted to the Main Feed, which is the approach we take with this newsletter each week. But things morphed a bit (as they sometimes do), so what you’ll find below is a mix of Member Feed and Main Feed posts, nominated by you, our amazing Ricochet members. Many thanks to everyone who participated in curating this list!
Before we get to those posts, we want to remind you about our special offer that ends Dec. 31: Members can give those who’ve never tried Ricochet a 30-day free trial to an all-access membership! Yup, tomorrow is the last day you can offer unlimited access to Ricochet.com, which includes publishing posts and access to our exclusive Member Feed, where your favorite person (or people!) can connect with like-minded conservatives. This all-access membership also includes exclusive events and offers, such as discussions with Ricochet editors and notable influencers. No strings attached, no credit card required. Sign up here. In addition, click here to check out our other membership offerings.
And now, in alphabetical order, and with comments from the nominators including their favorite quotations from the posts, we present …
The Top 10 Ricochet Posts of 2021
Adoption & the Journey to Healing by @midwestsoutherner
It was on Tuesday, June 13, 1967 — 54 years ago yesterday — that a nineteen-year-old girl gave me the precious gift of life.
Ricochet member @henryracette nominated this candid and moving look at how @midwestsoutherner’s experiences with the family that adopted her prepared her for navigating her son’s drug addiction. We found this part especially powerful:
Were it not for those experiences, I would not understand the importance of connection for an addict — that connection is key to their sobriety — and also that connection does not (necessarily) equal codependence. Healthy boundaries are possible. I can still love and support my son without enabling him. That’s huge, and had it not been for the gifts of what I learned with my Mom, I am certain the positive outcomes I see today in my son, nine years later, would not have been possible. His journey into the depths of addiction and back to light and life — and my journey with him — is a story that is still being written. Someday, I will have the courage to tell that story, but not today.
Intro to Eight Election Fraud (and Related) Claims by @saintaugustine
We may as well face facts: You haven’t actually read my 70 or so pages of detailed analysis of election fraud allegations, have you? Well, you could always go here for the big post (or, for off-Ricochet, here) and read it all very slowly, followed by the other parts of the series.
One Year Later: What Do We Know? by @saintaugustine
Not nearly enough. I’ve been analyzing various election fraud allegations as well as I can given the limits of my time, my abilities, and the amount of information available to me. It’s a mess.
From self-nominator @saintaugustine:
Well, if shameless self-promotion is happening up in here, I have two posts critiquing the disastrous 2020 election that went Main Feed.
Ricochet members are, by and large, very ticked off with that election and all its various categories of mismanagement and illegality. These two posts also manage the information responsibly enough to (apparently) also warrant the approval of Ricochet brass.
From @jamessalerno:
Saint Augustine’s post on election fraud is the post of the year by far.
That was real work. Real journalism. Just imagine how much better our country would be if our media put in that kind of effort. Or if our citizens had that level of intellectual curiosity.
Lying to Ourselves by @skipsul
We have a problem with our federal government, but it’s not exactly the one we’re used to thinking about. Frankly, we don’t want to think about it all – better to deny the reality entirely. Easier to lie and lie and lie, and blame our problems on everyone else. Easier to blame Liberals, or Wokesters, or (the current favorite among the increasingly reality-averse folks who still cannot face that Trump has immolated himself once and for all time) traitors and sabotage. It is, of course, all lies. Mind you, lies can be useful – especially when trying to avoiding hurt feelings (our own not the least), but they’re still lies. At one time rebellions against ruling monarchs favored the lie “We’re not really rebelling against the King, he’s just the victim of bad advisors.”
Ricochet member @randyweivoda nominated this post, which provides a great look at the hypocrisy that exists on the right and the left. From Randy:
Sadly, @skipsul is no longer on Ricochet, but he has written some very good posts. I would nominate “Lying to Ourselves.”
My Silken Letdown by @maxknots
There are two ways a Navy Carrier pilot can log one less carrier landing than take-off. The first is called the “fly-off”. When the squadron returns from a deployment, all the aircraft must be flown from the aircraft carrier back to their home base. If you’re senior enough, you get to fly one of them. On the scheduled day and time the squadron families gather at the hangar to await the planes’ arrival. All the aircraft that are able to fly are launched. Everyone joins up in formation and then the Squadron Commander leads the whole group of 10 or 12 aircraft back to the home airfield. For East Coast A-7E Corsairs from the 1970s to the 1990s, that airfield was Cecil Field Naval Air Station (NAS) in Jacksonville, Florida.
From nominator @BillJackson:
I really thought this post was great (by @Max Knots): https://ricochet.com/982549/my-silken-letdown/.
This passage really was great for describing exactly what the aftermath was like and I think it represents the most fun part of Ricochet: When folks share their unique experiences.
“After hitting the water and releasing my parachute, my life vest auto-inflated and I bobbed to the surface of the warm, 83-degree Indian Ocean. I reeled in and climbed aboard my one-man raft and felt immensely relieved. I was wet but not cold. In fact, it was a refreshing dip after the past six stifling hot weeks in the Indian Ocean off of Southern Iran and Turkmenistan.”
Red Ribbon Week is coming up. For the uninitiated, this is an anti-drug campaign for schools. At my elementary school, it was a big deal. There were contests, assemblies, and many broad generalizations.
From nominator @sawatdeeka:
Why I liked it: What followed the introduction to this post was a series of entertaining examples of Red Ribbon Week absurdities. My favorite, a horrifyingly funny incident, was this:
“My first Red Ribbon Week, the school learned that ‘drugs’ included cigarettes and beer. There was some attempt to draw a line between ‘illegal drugs’ and controlled substances like alcohol, but not much. Amusingly, my music teacher provided the most nuanced perspective, when he explained to my second grade class that occasional use of alcohol and tobacco are normal and okay for adults. ‘I have a cigar sometimes, on my birthday and New Year’s,’ he told us. Then, to dismiss us from class, he told us to line up one group at a time, as per normal routine. Except for his groupings, he decided on the following: ‘Line up if there’s no drugs at all in your family. OK, now line up if there’s some tobacco in your family. OK, now line up if there’s some alcohol in your family. All right, if there’s both tobacco and alcohol in your family, line up.’
Rush Limbaugh: Marconi’s Titan by @bossmongo
It may seem like we’re on an express elevator to hell. Maybe we’ve hit a tipping point, maybe we haven’t. But I submit to you, gentle reader, there is one reason we haven’t already slid this great country into a socialist hellscape. One man who stood, initially and literally alone, like Horatio at the bridge and stymied, befuddled and confused–and infuriated–The Left. That man was America’s Anchorman, The Doctor of Democracy, The Last Man Standing: Rush Limbaugh.
From nominator @blondie:
I know it doesn’t qualify (it made it to the main feed), but Boss Mongo’s piece on Rush needs to have some special place for the year.
Editor’s note: Boss Mongo passed away this summer. He wrote this post about Rush shortly before Rush himself passed away. We’re grateful to have had Boss as part of the Ricochet community.
Suppression of Free Speech Leads to Dead People by @drbastiat
Trofim Lysenko was the director of the Institute of Genetics within the USSR’s Academy of Sciences in the 1940’s. He was known for dismissing Mendelian genetics in favor of various pseudo-scientific theories including the impact of temperature variation on grain production. He collected data on growth of various grains, in how many days, at what temperatures. Other scientists found errors in his calculations. He angrily retorted that mathematics has no place in biology (This was undoubtedly the first clue to his colleagues that perhaps Mr. Lysenko was not a top-rate scientist…).
From self-nominator @drbastiat:
This is probably my favorite post I’ve written this year. It compares the Soviet agricultural scientist Trofim Lysenko to American biologist Norman Borlaug. Lysenko’s work led to the death of millions, and Borlaug’s work saved hundreds of millions of lives. I tried to explain how that happened, and why centralized control systems always lead to results that vary between disappointing and horrifying.
From @saintaugustine:
Dr. Bastiat’s best of the year is a worthy candidate indeed. I lack the time to send a thoughtful email, or I would.
Too Many Weak and Unprincipled Men Among Us by @olesummers
This is a time for serious reflection on direction, principles, and leadership. I have several thoughts on these as related to both our present and future. But as I am inclined to do, I consider the stories of the past when looking at both the present and the future. There are no perfect examples, only examples of imperfect humans who are caught in their own times and challenges. But the ones who truly leave us with examples of guidance can see beyond the mire of the moment, personal damage or false glory. They, by some trait, either acquired or momentarily blessed with, see with promise guided by lasting principles. They are the leaders who matter, regardless of the cost they pay.
From nominator @philo:
My favorite posts are the ones I see as truly inspired pieces of writing. (To be clear, these are generally by those with something to say that “get it down on paper when the inspiration strikes them” as opposed to those who want to be writers and find things to write about on a scheduled basis. But I digress.)
The current active member who most checks this box for me is Ole Summers. However, picking one entry from the year would be difficult, especially since much of his best seems to come across over related series’ of posts. But, without time today to read them all over again, I will throw this one into the mix:
In addition to quoting the opening paragraph of the post in his nomination, Philo shared the final one:
History, at times, gives us stories of such leaders. They are imperfect men who at times make imperfect decisions. But they leave behind their own comfort and ease or even wealth because they feel they can protect something more important. Despite any faults or failures, they are worthy of our respect – and gratitude. They are often resented by those with shorter vision or less courage. Sometimes they are even betrayed. Seemingly, they are always resisted, or undermined, by those who prefer to cline to comfort in the “normal” regardless of how destructive it really is. I suppose that has been true of many past times. It might even be true of our own.
Will Eastern Kentucky Save us from Bad Country Music? by @daventers
I don’t know much, but I do know that “Today’s Hot Country Music” is an abominable soulless mass of bland generic garbage, full of cliches and put-on accents, and so devoid of anything worthy of attention that I can’t even enjoy hating it. All the songs are like little musicalized Facebook posts, a dispiriting pile of vapidity and artistic apathy unrivaled in the history of Western Civilization. My wife will listen to nothing else.
From nominator @henrycastaigne:
I’ve had enough of politics. How about one discussing country music? The opening paragraph alone is worth the nomination.
Great stuff.
Thanks again to everyone who shared their favorite Ricochet posts from 2021!
If you want to send us feedback on this newsletter, email greatest.hits@ricochet.com.
See you next week!
P.S. Want your post to be considered for the next newsletter? Post by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Jan. 6.