My "Best of" For the New Year
And the last four years...
To close out 2024, while I’m finishing up what will be the last piece of this year (if it’s done in time) or the first piece of next year, I thought I’d post some of the most popular pieces from the past and those I liked the best.
But before I do that, thank you again for being such a supportive community. Being hated by so many people for so long, having my business gutted overnight, and losing so many friends (though does social media even count as friends?) has always made this space for me all the more special. What a gift to have people who read, listen, engage in the comments, and offer such words of kindness. It surprises me every day.
I also want to thank those who have sent cards and letters, some with money attached - I have not yet written back, but I promise I will. I love getting those letters because they exist in the real world—the lost art of letter writing.
I do not always answer messages you send here, and I apologize for that. I have read them, and I thank you for them. I hope to respond as soon as I can.
I began this Substack in 2020 after realizing I existed inside an insular feedback loop. I couldn’t take the climate of fear the Left had become. After being screamed at for years by the “woke scolds,” I found a place here on Substack to write what I wanted to write without having to take incoming constantly.
I have always been drawn to the Internet because it is a place for free thought and free speech. I haven’t changed. Our culture has changed, and not for the better.
Onward and upward!
Obviously, my most read pieces came from Real Clear Politics, the MVPs of this Substack. Without them, no one would even know about this Substack, much less subscribe to it.
Anyway, here is a selection in case you missed any of them. I’ve written over 700 pieces here on Substack, shocking, I know. So this is just a short sampling…but they stand out for me for one reason or another.
How Joe Biden Lost My Vote
“The new puritans, then, are best understood as a clergy for a godless age, presiding over a dreamscape of their own making, rewriting our language, history and traditions as they go along. Yet, for all their clout, there are still some among us who steadfastly refuse to praise the elegance of the emperor’s new clothes, who would rather point and laugh …
The Democrats are a Cheap Fake
There probably hasn’t been a debate performance as shocking and terrible as Joe Biden’s was tonight. How long have they known he was this bad? If they knew, was this their plot to get rid of him? A coup? Is that why they did it in June?
We Need to Talk About Audrey Hale and Riley Gaines
“In a country that doesn't discriminate between fame and infamy, the latter presents itself as plainly more achievable.”
Hurricane Hillary and The Wicked Queen
Memes sprouted up online as the rare, once-in-a-generation Hurricane Hilary threatened Los Angeles. “She’s back,” they all said. No one could mistake the namesake, with or without the extra “l.”
Book Review: Borrowed Time, An American Masterpiece
“And so shines a good deed in a weary world,” that’s the line that ran through my head as I finished John Nolte’s first novel, Borrowed Time. The truth is that I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to leave that imaginative world and have to face the reality of ours.
"What is a Girl?"
What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye. - JD Salinger
The Best Film of the Year that Won't Win Best Picture
“The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.”
Mr. Trump Goes to Washington
Trump was nearing the end of a campaign speech for Marco Rubio in Miami, days before the midterms when it started to rain. The MAGA faithful used their Trump signs as makeshift umbrellas. Trump’s mic cut in and out. He could barely read the teleprompter.
The Season Finale of Catch Trump if You Can
If there is one thing I learned watching the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial it’s this: you can’t just hear one side of the story.
Joe Biden: The Man Who Wasn't There
“Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver 5 minutes longer.”
America's Men Need Help and Leadership
We are a country absent leadership. The leaders of the past, like FDR or Eisenhower, knew how to guide a country through a difficult time. As one country, one nation, a President should never use a tragedy to further divide it yet that is exactly what Joe Biden did in addressing the nation after the shooting in Texas.
Democrats Have Nothing Left But Trump
“A few days after the November 2016 elections, I sat down to write out my feelings, which consisted mainly of fear and loathing. The president-elect, I intoned, was a dangerous lunatic, one likely to recall the ghosts of Fuehrers past. His election meant the death of America, of democracy itself, and maybe even scores of Americans. “Assume the worst is …
The Richest Non-compliant Man in the World
[Update: Since writing this, Elon Musk has actually bought Twitter!]
When Cancel Culture Comes for You
I spoke to my old friend the other day about Gina Carano. He covers the film beat and has for years. He opposes “cancel culture” and has actually been mostly cancelled himself: kicked out of film festivals and considered a “bad” person on Film Twitter. Surely he would be sympathetic at Disney’s firing of Gina Carano for being way too outspoken and “prob…
Though I have written over 700 pieces on this Substack in four years, that’s about it.
Until next time, my friends.
Sasha, thank you for all your work. You write with the voice of a dear friend who wants to keep me informed, and also with a deep sense of care and compassion for those who have been chewed up and spit out by the intolerant woke left.
Thank you for giving me your ‘Best of’ to get caught up with your amazing transformation. I just discovered Substack this past summer. Grateful to have found yours right away. There are some really toxic people on here as well, but I avoid them. I’m always enriched by reading and often listen to you as you tell your stories.
Keep up the great work. I think 🤔 I’m convinced that I can actually support your work!