Welcome back to the second of our year-end awards columns! And if you missed it last Friday, go check out [Part 1] as well.

It was a rather eventful week in politics this week, as Elon Musk completely eclipsed Donald Trump as the biggest bomb-thrower in the Republican Party. He was so spectacularly good at blowing everything up that none other than Newt Gingrich (the original Republican bomb-thrower) suggested the incoming House of Representatives should elect him speaker. Democrats are smirking on the sidelines and calling him "President Musk," in an effort to get under Trump's infamously thin skin, so we'll have to see where all of this goes in the coming days. As of this writing, House Democrats took pity on Speaker Johnson and provided him with enough votes to pass a continuing resolution that will avoid a government shutdown at midnight -- but still, 34 Republicans voted against it. One has to wonder whether that will spark Musk's rage or not... oh, beg your pardon... we meant to say Trump's rage, of course (heh).

All we've got to say about the legislative Dumpster fire that was the past few days is: Welcome to the next few years! Buckle in, it's going to be a wild ride, that much is for certain.

But we've got to put current events aside, because it is time to finish up our year-end awards columns with this week's [Part 2] offering. As always, we must begin with a warning for all readers. It's long. Really, really long. Horrendously long. Insanely long. It takes a lot of stamina to read all the way to the end. You have been duly warned! But because it is so long, we certainly don't want to add any more here at the start, so let's just dive in, shall we?

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Well, that was quick. Donald Trump has already been eclipsed. His signature bomb-throwing style has now been outdone by the man who seemingly refuses to leave Trump's side, and who is a much bigger bomb-thrower than even Trump himself. Elon Musk is now running the government -- or, at the very least, the Republican Party's part of it. This has relegated Trump to being an afterthought, something that he's not usually very comfortable with. Will this begin to chafe? Will Trump decide to sideline Musk at some point, for the sin of overshadowing him on the political stage? We'll have to see, but we do have one suggestion for Democrats who might wish for this to happen.

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It must be a slow news month. That's the obvious explanation. But then "obvious explanations" aren't exactly newsworthy, or maybe just not entertaining enough, perhaps. It's much more fun to present all kinds of wild theories, isn't it? Which, again, is the obvious explanation for why the mainstream media keeps (pun definitely intended) droning on and on.

The story began last month in New Jersey, which was rather famously the setting for the Orson Welles 1938 radio adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic The War Of The Worlds. Alien spaceships had landed in the Garden State, and mankind was only saved in the end by the seasonal flu. A great story, a chilling adaptation of it, and a whole lot of people totally freaked out when they heard it (many of whom missed the introduction where it was explained that this was a fictional broadcast). It probably didn't help that it aired on Hallowe'en.

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Once again, I need your ideas. Last Friday we ran the first of our two-part year-end awards columns, so we're halfway to closing the year out here.

So put on your thinking caps and try to remember the year that was, and share your nominations for the second round with everyone. There are (as always) plenty of categories to choose from, so anyone worth noting will likely fit into one of them. It was a rollercoaster of a year, so there should be lots to choose from.

And once again, I would be remiss if I didn't urge everyone to support the site with your generous donations. The site redesign/update is on track for January or February, and your input has been helping, but it's going to be a rather big hit on the site's budget, so we're hoping we can meet this year's goal before we get there.

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Since the election, the United States Constitution has been in the news, as many seem to be dusting off obscure provisions within it and contemplating their actual use. First there was Donald Trump threatening to make "recess appointments" for any of his nominees the Senate fails to confirm, and now this week a blue state is considering withdrawing its call for a constitutional convention, while Democrats in Congress are calling on President Joe Biden to move to declare the Equal Rights Amendment ratified and part of the Constitution.

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Everybody ready? Here is the first installment of our year-end awards, with our obligatory nod to The McLaughlin Group television show for coming up with these categories.

As always, it's a marathon. It's really, really long. Don't say you weren't warned! And since it is so long, that's all the introduction we're going to bother with.

Ready?... everyone buckle up... here we go....

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This isn't a real column, just an extended program note. I am busily working on tomorrow's year-end awards column, combing through the year's events for all the forgotten stuff, so I am currently too swamped to write an new article.

Instead, I thought I would ask readers for some preferences, as I work to figure out what the design of the new site will look like. I am heavily in favor of the "KISS" principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) and so am looking to remove a whole bunch of stuff. These sorts of things were niceties way back when, in the dawn of blogging, but are all woefully outdated now.

But before I do, I thought I'd ask whether anyone still uses this stuff or not, just so people can make the case to keep things. This will be in no particular order, just random design ideas (mostly for stuff to strip out).

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It has been astonishing to watch the reactions to the cold-blooded killing of a health insurance executive. Not so much the rude reactions people have been posting online, but the reactions to those reactions, in both the media and in the political world. This inability to recognize the rage that exists towards health insurers in general is nothing more than elitism. People who simply can't understand this free-floating anger are out of touch with the struggles ordinary people face and the powerless feeling it leaves them with. Murdering someone on the street is obviously an unacceptable answer, but it has provided a catharsis of feeling that someone out there took the power into his own hands for once. It's not exactly Robin Hood, but cheering for an outlaw isn't exactly a new thing when the outlaw is seen to be fighting back against entrenched power.

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That is indeed the question right now, for President Joe Biden. Some are urging the president to issue "blanket pardons" to any and all persons who might become targets of legal harassment by the incoming Trump administration. This is an extensive list, as it includes basically everyone who has ever seriously annoyed Donald Trump at any time, for any reason. And the threat is real, as Trump proved yet again a few days ago by expressing his desire that everyone on the House January 6th Committee should go to jail. And the members of that committee aren't the only ones who could be targeted.

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Donald Trump has one favorite tactic he continually uses, mostly because it works so well. Trump regularly "floods the zone" with so many things at once that other people can't manage to keep up with it all. What is becoming evident is that this tactic is likely to continue working for him in his second term as well, if the past few weeks are any indication. Two areas in particular are worth noting: Trump's nomination picks and his interview on Meet The Press which aired yesterday.

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