Nominations Are Open For 2024 Year-End Awards
Before we get to the categories list for our annual year-end awards, I have one quick program note and one quick question.
Tomorrow we will have the last regular Friday Talking Points article of the year. Because the next two Fridays will be turned over to our yearly McLaughlin Awards (parts one and two). And then we'll be taking some time off (and running old columns) during the holidays (although we may pop in now and again with a new column... but no promises...). So we're preparing for next week already by throwing the nominations open for the first part of the awards (see below).
Our question has to do with the site, and its upcoming redesign. Does anybody regularly see the special header we have for "Friday Talking Points"? A long time ago we registered "fridaytalkingpoints.com" as a domain name, which takes you to a list of only the Talking Points columns here, with its own special header. But, as I said, I have to wonder whether anyone ever uses it or not, and (more importantly) would anyone have a problem if I just got rid of it for the sake of simplicity? Let me know your thoughts.... I still intend to retain the domain name, but it would just point to the regular site (a list of all the Friday Talking Points columns) instead of having its own header, if I simplified things.
OK, with that out of the way, let's move along to this year's awards. It was a rollercoaster ride of a year, with all kinds of weirdness emanating from the halls of power in Washington, so there should be plenty of ideas for the best and worst of it all.
Ever since I got the idea of asking readers for their ideas, I have been incredibly impressed at the breadth of nominations I have gotten, I should say. People remember different things about the year, and different things either impress or disgust everyone to various degrees. I expect this year will be no different.
So without further ado, let's just get right to the list. Here are the categories for the first part of our year-end awards. Feel free to interpret the categories however you wish -- "Biggest Winner" could be a sports team, for instance, if you interpret it literally. In any case, as always I look forward to seeing what everyone thinks, so here's the list:
Biggest Winner of 2024
Biggest Loser of 2024
Best Politician
Worst Politician
Most Defining Political Moment
Turncoat Of The Year
Most Boring
Most Charismatic
Bummest Rap
Fairest Rap
Best Comeback
Most Original Thinker
Most Stagnant Thinker
Best Photo Op
Worst Photo Op
Enough Already!
Worst Lie
Capitalist Of The Year
Honorable Mention
Person Of The Year
And don't forget, this is just the first part of the awards. I will post all the categories for the second part a little later on, so you can make nominations for those as well. There's some overlap between the categories, so people can still win awards even if they get left out of this first round.
So... here we go... the nominations for the awards are now open! Let me know who you thought was the best and worst of 2024....
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
I'm afraid only one person could possibly win comeback.
JL,
there exists no police or national guard that the president can't call into action if he chooses to, a
The President can call out anyone he wants, this is true.
But he can't SEND them to where ever he wants.
At the time Pelosi controlled the House grounds and SHE had final say on who gets deployed to HER House..
Pelosi refused to allow the National Guard to deploy to HER House.. And President Trump was powerless to overrule her because it was HER House..
What part of that is so difficult for you to understand??
same for the documents thing. every outgoing executive has a few accidental loose ends unattended, and gives back as much as possible as soon as they find out.
And once again, you ignore the FACT that totally hypocrisizes your entire claim..
Basement Biden took documents.. Documents he WASN'T EVEN ENTITLED TO!! And he showed those documents to people who had no clearance to see them..
The EXACT same "crimes" that you accuse President Trump of..
Odumbo and Clinton kept documents and refused to return them..
And yet, you ONLY single out President ELECT Trump as the "criminal"??
Why is that??
Because you are suffering from PTDS....
031
Bashi,
Oh my god, that guy lied!
Yes, the guy lied..
And YOU always get off complaining about President ELECT Trump's alleged "lies" which aren't even lies..
But you give YOUR guy a pass because he is your guy..
How is this not ANYTHING but blatant hypocrisy????
I know you won't address this because you can't accept that you are WRONG about everything..
Weren't you the guy who said Basement Biden would finish the campaign??
Weren't you the guy who said Headboard Harris would win the election??
Oh wait.. Let me guess.. You NEVER said anything about that, eh?? :epic eyeroll:
You have ALWAYS been wrong, Bashi..
You simply can't admit it..
032
Biggest Winner of 2024
President ELECT Trump
Biggest Loser of 2024
Token DEI Hire Headboard Harris
Best Politician
President ELECT Trump
Worst Politician
Basement Biden
Most Defining Political Moment
President ELECT Trump kicks Headboard Harris' ass all over the country and President ELECT Trump wins the Popular Vote by a considerably great margin.
Turncoat Of The Year
Basement Biden
Most Boring
Token DEI Hire Headboard Harris
Most Charismatic
President ELECT Trump
Best Comeback
President ELECT Trump
Most Original Thinker
President ELECT Trump
Best Photo Op
The attempted assassination of President Trump
Worst Lie
That Headboard Harris could actually win the election.
Capitalist Of The Year
President ELECT Trump
Person Of The Year
President ELECT Trump
If there is ANY semblance of "reality based" commentary left in Weigantia..... President ELECT Trump should sweep the awards.. :D
033
JL,
The records case you keep harping on was dismissed even BEFORE President Trump won the election.
Florida judge dismisses the Trump classified documents case
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon handed down her decision in a big win for the former president. Special counsel Jack Smith's office indicated it would appeal the ruling.
15 Jul 24
ALL of the cases against President Trump would not have survived appeal..
But Democrats didn't care about all that..
Those cases were never built to withstand appeal.. The SOLE intent of those cases was to keep President Trump distracted and on his back foot so he would lose the election..
But Democrats, in their throes of PTDS and Trump/America hate didn't even stop to consider that all the lawfare persecutions would actually HELP President Trump win the election..
034
Politico is reporting that the White House is considering pre-emptive pardons for hundreds of Democrat officials..
Which makes one wonder what crimes have been committed by the Basement Biden/Headboard Harris administration that they would need pardons for??
And THIS is the Party that ya'all are defending!!???
:eyeroll:
035
Pelosi refused to allow the National Guard to deploy to HER House.. And President Trump was powerless to overrule her because it was HER House..
And yet, no investigation came to that conclusion...
And YOU always get off complaining about President ELECT Trump's alleged "lies" which aren't even lies..
Seriously?
And yet, no investigation came to that conclusion...
No shit Sherlock. Because it was a DEMOCRAT investigation..
Now if you want the FACTS???
WASHINGTON - House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) obtained documentary footage recorded by Alexandra Pelosi on January 6, 2021 and produced to the Subcommittee by HBO.
Vice-chair Liz Cheney and Chair Bennie Thompson's J6 Select Committee had this footage but did not release it publicly and did not archive this footage at the end of the 117th Congress or hand it over when Republicans took the majority at the beginning of 2023. Therefore, the Subcommittee went directly to HBO to obtain the footage.
Yesterday, the Subcommittee posted this video from January 6, 2021, which was recorded by Alexandra Pelosi and provided directly to the Subcommittee by HBO. In the video former Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated "I take responsibility" for the security failures of the Capitol that day.
“As Nancy Pelosi was being evacuated from the Capitol on January 6, 2021 she admitted that, as Speaker of the House, she was responsible for the security failures, and for not having the National Guard at the Capitol,” said Chairman Loudermilk.
“However, after the dust settled from the breach of the Capitol, she spent 20 million taxpayer dollars for her January 6 Select Committee to create a narrative that shifted the blame on President Trump. The Democrats’ partisan select committee went to great lengths to suppress and hide evidence that didn’t support their predetermined narrative about that day, including this video of Speaker Pelosi admitting that she was responsible for the security failures at the Capitol. My committee will continue to investigate and expose all the facts. The American people deserve the truth.”
This video shows Pelosi in a moment of leadership acknowledging that as Speaker of the House it was her responsibility to ensure the safety of Members of Congress that day and every other day. However, Pelosi never publicly took responsibility. Instead, Pelosi created the January 6 Select Committee with the purpose of publicly blaming Donald Trump for her own failures.
Despite Pelosi’s claims yesterday on MSNBC that Republicans are engaging in revisionist history, this clip proves what Republicans have said for three years: it is Pelosi who has been determined to revise history and shift the blame away from herself for security failures at the Capitol on January 6.
https://x.com/OversightAdmn/status/1800207258514575730
Wikipedia???
BBBBBWWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You might as well quote WaPoop or NY Grime.. :eyeroll:
@m,
judge Cannon ruled that the special counsel had no standing to bring the case, an insane technicality which in no way renders the criminal evidence false, nor makes Donald's intentional hiding and brazen sharing of fifteen boxes of classified documents equivalent to a few stay files forgotten in the residences of every other president and VP.
if you get away with robbing the bank because the case is dropped, you still robbed the bank. I'm losing patience with your inane arguments about the indisputable facts of these cases. Donald has already won and gotten away with it all, why isn't that enough?
judge Cannon ruled that the special counsel had no standing to bring the case, an insane technicality which in no way renders the criminal evidence false,
It simply shows how desperate Democrats were to get Trump, that they ignored proper procedure to establish a Special Counsel..
President ELECT Trump is 100% INNOCENT of all criminal accusations regarding the documents case..
This is fact..
if you get away with robbing the bank because the case is dropped, you still robbed the bank.
But you are STILL 100% INNOCENT of robbing a bank..
I'm losing patience with your inane arguments about the indisputable facts of these cases. Donald has already won and gotten away with it all, why isn't that enough?
Because you can't admit that those cases would have NEVER been brought against ANYONE not named Trump..
They were bullshit cases that had ONE SOLE purpose. And that one sole purpose had NOTHING to do with seeing that justice was done..
037
Wikipedia???
Which has footnotes to every accusation. 591 of them. If you actually believe that all 591 are wrong then I have some sweet swamp land to sell you...
The Pelosi video does not prove your point. Only she should have prepared more, not that she had direct control of the national guard.
She specifically said in the video that she was responsible. That it was HER RESPONSIBILITY.
You see the point??? Direct and unambiguous FACT proves you WRONG and you refuse to accept it.
This is exactly why you don't merit ANY facts.
Because you refuse to accept ANY facts that violate your Democrat ideology or your Trump/America Hate...
Thank you for proving my point for me..
038
JL,
When one considers the NY Case one has to take into account the person who initiated the case.
BRAGG is persecuting a real American hero for saving the lives of a dozen subway riders.
That is the kind of "man" that Bragg is.
Further to even be ABLE to prosecute Trump's "crimes" as felonies, Bragg had to link them to a REAL felony.
What felony did Trump commit that would allow Bragg to make the misdemeanors into felonies???
No one knows. Not only did Bragg not find Trump guilty of this other fantasy "crime", Bragg didn't even IDENTIFY the fantasy "crime" in court.
NO ONE with more than 2 brain cells to rub together would believe that Bragg's case was about justice.
It was SOLELY and UNEQUIVOCALLY about trying to hamper Trump's campaign.
The fact that it backfired most spectacular is simply hilarious. Typical Democrats failing to consider the consequences of their nefarious actions.
039
For Most Iconic Moment, it would have to be President Trump doing a shift at McDonalds..
That was the point when everyone knew that Harris wouldn't win.
It was a fabulous troll of Harris' BS claim that she had worked at McDonalds.. :)
It was HUGELY effective.. :)
040
She specifically said in the video that she was responsible. That it was HER RESPONSIBILITY.
To put in a request before it all started. Neither the speaker of the house nor majority leader of the senate command the national guard. Once the action has started, it's the President that has the command. Or does the buck only stop when a democrat is President?
Biggest Winner of 2024 - €£on mu$k
Biggest Loser of 2024 - Objective Reality
Best Politician - Mike Johnson
Worst Politician - kari lake
Most Defining Political Moment - june debate
Turncoat Of The Year - nancy pelosi (for orchestrating Biden's withdrawal)
Most Boring - the economy. good luck with that next year.
Most Charismatic - AOC - she can be totally wrong and still look and sound great.
Bummest Rap - Joe Biden. period.
Fairest Rap - Netanyahu at the ICC
Best Comeback - duh.
Most Original Thinker - israeli intelligence. they effectively decapacitated hezbollah in one move, with something right out of james bond or star wars.
Most Stagnant Thinker - James Carville and everyone else who called donald a fascist. it's lazy thinking and it had no effect.
Best Photo Op - Trump post assassination attempt. he saw his moment and seized it.
Worst Photo Op - anything involving Mark Robinson.
Enough Already! - insistence on Donald's eternal innocence. when the game is over and you already won, quit arguing with the video replay.
Worst Lie - Biden is sharper than ever. he obviously wasn't, and that failure to admit reality paved the way for the undermining of reality itself.
Capitalist Of The Year - Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong, foreseeing Donald's probable victory and overruling their editorial boards from endorsing Kamala.
Honorable Mention - Jared Golden, Liz Cheney, ranked choice voting, maya rudolph, John Fetterman, Ukraine
Person Of The Year - Taylor Swift
@cw,
i know calls for part 2 aren't out yet, but I'd like to jump in early. i believe no individual could possibly be more "destined for political oblivion" than Merrick Garland.
for almost 9 years in two different roles, he has been the poster child for Democrats paying lip service to truth and justice, but being thoroughly unwilling to fight for either.
JL
Re. Person of the Year - Taylor Swift
There was quite a lot of lip-syncing at those Eras tour shows and when Taylor was actually singing live, no one heard it because it got Auto-Tuned live before it came out of the speakers.
Now, perhaps most of her fans don't really care that she isn't actually singing. And, granted, these performances were more of an overall experience of fans coming together to see a favourite artist move around on stage.
It's just that Taylor wasn't promoting this multi-billion dollar tour as a lip-syncing extravaganza!
Still, I won't argue against her being named Person of the Year.
@liz,
Taylor Swift did a lot more than music this year. sports, politics, society, she has become a cultural fixture that even Gen x'ers like myself have to respect.
I'm also not a big fan of engineered pitch correction, but it's the industry standard, so it'd be a bit silly to hold it against her in particular.
JL
Yeah, that is why I won't argue with your choice!
Heavy-handed digital pitch correction that borders on autotuning is indeed the current music industry standard.
I don't hold it against any artist that uses it, even though it makes a great singer sound bad and a mediocre singer sound pitch accurate. Never mind that it makes ALL singers sound the same - calibrated to A440 Hz standard pitch, equal temperament - and literally sucks the life out of modern recordings.
It would be very stupid to hold it against Taylor, in particular. I agree.
But, don't get me started! :)
What really pushes all my buttons is when my favourite singers from decades ago are now being heavily pitch "corrected" retroactively and/or posthumously when albums get re-released and songs are officially uploaded anew to digital platforms and streaming services.
There is a movement afoot to have the use of pitch-altering technology disclosed when it is used on a singer's voice and to prevent its retroactive use on our favourite singers from decades ago.
The current music industry standard is destroying our favourite singers' voices - they are pitch corr ...er, pitch-MANGLING Freddie Mercury. If they can do it to him, none of our favourite artists are immune.
Live performances these days may very well mean that the artist is there alive on stage and moving around.
Some people would choose not to buy tickets to see a mimed performance if they knew that that is what was going to happen.
I went to an Eagles concert a little while ago - before I learned that Don Henley was lip-syncing ... to pre-recorded vocals that were pitch-corrected, no less!
It's all about transparency and honesty and artistic integrity. I have nothing against the use of pitch correction and Auto-Tune live, per se. I just want the artists and their teams to be honest about it so that I, as an album and concert ticket-buying music lover can decide what I want to purchase and listen to.
well, there needs to be something to differentiate from zombie performances
Those sorts of performances and recordings are easier to hear and you basically know what you're getting and paying for. It's the ones that are less manipulated but manipulated all the same that concern me.
It's the not knowing what you are listening to that is the problem - because you don't know what you're missing out on and what you are not being allowed to hear.
Case in point is Billy Joel's new song that he performed at the last Grammy awards. One of his fans heard the official release and didn't really like it. Then he saw the Grammy performance and loved it. He thought the Grammy "live" version must have been Auto-Tuned.
It turns out that the Grammy performance was absolutely fully live vocals, all around, from Billy and everyone else on the song and instruments! But, someone in the production of the official release thought that Billy didn't sound good enough so they mangled his voice on the officially released version and anyone who listens to that, though it may sound okay, will be deprived from hearing Billy's beautiful natural (unedited by digital pitch "correction") voice.
Here is the vocal analysis of the video of the Grammy performance that generated an instant standing ovation from the audience because the performance was that live and that good! I remember watching it at home and loving every minute of it. It is just so sad that the official version has been so manipulated, destroying Billy's voice for all the world to hear. :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkM0Or6ZG6o
Biggest Winner of 2024 - Co-President, Elon Musk
Biggest Loser of 2025 - Co-President, Elon Musk and the DONALD: "Department Of Nothing And Lawless Dictatorship," which Musk hysterically refers to as the "Department of Government Efficiency" as if it's some kind of real department of the United States *laughs*
Biggest Loser of 2024 - Down-ballot Republicans in competitive races... because Turncoat Trump has neckties longer than his coattails
Best Politician - Hakeem Jeffries: Nothing happened in the House this year unless Jeffries negotiated and/or allowed it. Expect more of that in 2025.
Worst Politician - Kari Lake
Most Defining Political Moment - SCOTUS creating immunity for "official" presidential acts... defining moment for the ages
Turncoat Of The Year - Donald Trump (still). Hard to fathom how many ignorant people fall for his fake populism. *laughs* Trump can't keep his promises to you and Elon and his venture capitalist donors and crypto cronies so guess who's getting the short shrift? Rhetorical question.
Most Boring - Infrastructure. Not boring in practice... just the politicians' and pundits' attempts at discussing "infrastructure" has grown tiresome.
Most Charismatic - Apparently Donald Trump. I personally don't fall for the massive pile of flaming bullshit, but there are enough stupid people in America who believe the ridiculous idea that no matter what dumb thing Trump says or does it's all part of some kind of mystical magical game of 4D chess and not the toxic narcissistic nutjob fake populist flip-flopping raving lunacy of an opportunist con man convicted felon that it actually is.
Bummest Rap - The United States economy got a bum rap... right up until November 2024, and now stupid people are singing its praises... like it's somehow suddenly turned 180 degrees on a dime in a day *laughs*
Fairest Rap - Whatever bad thing anyone says about "bunkernyy ded" -- translation: grandpa in his bunker -- also known as Vladimir Putin.
Best Comeback - Willful ignorance
Most Original Thinker - Elon Musk
Most Stagnant Thinker - Also Elon Musk because who says an original thinker can't also think in a stagnant manner? Rhetorical question.
Best Photo Op - Trump when some idiot shot at him
Worst Photo Op - Joe Biden at the debate... deer in headlights
Enough Already! - Right-wing absolute hysterical prevarication that Trump is being wrongly prosecuted when he's literally admitted multiple times that he intentionally took documents. No, it isn't legal to take government documents and isn't legal to commit fraud via documents. If you can understand Hunter Biden did this and was prosecuted by Trump's DOJ, then you can understand your "Trump is innocent" is gaslighting of the highest order... gaslighting yourself with your own bullshit.
Worst Lies
(1) Trump won in a landslide. *laughs* Total hysterical gaslighting absolute fabricated utter bullshit. If you think Trump won in a landslide, then Biden cleaned Trump's clock in 2020 because what kind of absolute batshit moron tells his own voters not to vote by mail?
(2) The ridiculous notion that Donald Trump is being prosecuted for "nothing" when he literally was at the head of a conspiracy to overturn an election through illegal fraudulent documents filed with the National Archives and his own personal strong-arming of his vice president into recognizing the multiple fraudulent certificates of ascertainment in order to illegally keep himself in power. Needless to say, it's illegal to present false documents to the United States. We know the Righties understand this concept because they prosecuted Hunter Biden for it. It's also illegal to take dozens of boxes of the government's property -- including war plans -- and refuse to return them after multiple months of inquiries followed by obstruction of justice and having your grunts hide them by moving them around to the various assorted rooms of your publicly accessed country club, up to and including the ballroom and bathroom/bathtub at said resort. It's not legal to forge documents with intent to deceive/coverup in the United States or in any state jurisdiction therein no matter who you are. FAFO
Capitalist Of The Year - Elon Musk
Honorable Mention - Right-wing conspiracy theory propaganda bullshit
Person Of The Year - Taylor Swift (still). Let's face it, people: It was basically a 2-year run.