2011 In Review

In our house, 2011 has not been the best of years. In May, over lunch with the CEO, I was told that the Board had decided to dissolve my employer of ten years, and that I would be retained to help wind down the company until the end of June. Everyone else was gone within a week. Many of my co-workers, who over the course of ten years also became friends, are still out of work in a pharma industry which is in utter turmoil. I spent four months unemployed until deciding to accept a job for considerably less pay and in a more junior role.

As for the blog, it’s been an eventful year. We ditched the name Snowflakes in Hell, and adopted a new title and theme. Along with that came accepting advertising. I am pleased to report that the advertising is paying for the Internet connection and related server costs. So what were the most highly trafficked stories this year?

Other than ones that tripped over a lucky keyword, Racist Motivations vs. Racist Outcomes was one of the most popular posts this year, which I’m happy about, because I spent time on that post. It’s most frustrating when “Look! Something shiny!,” fetches tons of traffic and something you spent time on doesn’t. But sometimes it works out. There were a few other stand outs traffic wise. People were concerned when Obama finally spoke out on gun control. No one particularly liked it when NPR set us up the bomb, and I guess a lot of Floridians stopped by to laugh at my reaction to a little bit of rain. Not a highly ranked story traffic wise, but I think the victory in Ezell is one of the biggest successes of the year, which was balanced by a significant loss in Heller II. Let us also not forget HR822 passing the House, on the legislative front, and Pennsylvania finally getting Castle Doctrine.

My top referrers were Say Uncle, Glenn Reynolds (the good Professor can bring in more eyeballs in a single link than a peep show near a naval port), Tam, The Firearm Blog, Robb Allen, and John Richardson. I thank my partners in crime.

Other big news of the year is the precipitous decline of our opponents. We all remember CSGV getting their Twitter account suspended for trying to “out” everyone. Howard Nemerov takes a look at just how bad it’s been for the Brady Campaign, and we’ve certainly closely followed their descent into irrelevant madness here as well.

For gun rights, 2012 is going to be pivotal. The Second Amendment can’t afford Barack Obama stuffing the federal courts, or God forbid, the Supreme Court, with more anti-gun judges. Even Romney, as bad as he might be, is an improvement over the status quo, particularly when it comes to judges, since any GOP President knows that court appointments are where you throw bones to your interest groups. Bush forgot that with Harriet Meyers to his peril.

I sincerely hope everyone has a healthy and happy 2012, and here’s hoping the Second Amendment (and given the Title of this blog, Article I, Section 21) has a successful 2012 as well.