Year In Review: My Favorite Five
Happy holidays. It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year since I got back to writing. Time flies.
One of the things I like about writing on Substack is the data the platform offers. Turns out, this newsletter is read in twelve countries. Still, most readers are closer to home… much closer; nearly two-thirds are in DC (26%), Maryland (30%) and Virginia (8%).
My first post of the year — “I’m writing again” — was my most read, with over 1,500 views. Only one other story broke 1,000 views on Substack, and it tops the list below of my five favorites from 2024.
But big picture, most people read my work at FAIR and Counterpunch. And I want to give a shoutout to FAIR’s Jim Naureckas and Counterpunch’s Jeffrey St. Clair for letting me pick up where we left off before my hiatus.
Two final thank you’s: to my wife Julia, who doubles as my editor, even though she doesn’t have time for that thankless job.
And to my readers, without whom there’d be no point in pecking away at the keyboard.
— Pete
My favorites from 2024…
1. Larry Hogan’s Dead Chief of Staff
“The coroner couldn’t say whether it was Roy McGrath or the FBI who fired the fatal shot, but after two to the head McGrath was dead at 53. Publicly, Larry Hogan said all the right things in the wake of the death of his former chief of staff; thoughts and prayers for the family, etc. But privately Hogan… must have breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer had to worry about his longtime friend running his mouth, or releasing secret recordings.”
2. Bragging On My Sister
“Between the two of us, my sister Becca Tucker and I have won dozens of journalism awards. (No, I haven’t won any.)”
3. Dems Rush To Anoint Kamala Harris
“with Orwellian speed and unanimity, the very same folks who promised us Biden was fit as a fiddle are now here to tell us that Harris is The One. Meanwhile, these party insiders dismiss the need for even the faintest nod to democratic legitimacy, an open convention.”
4. How Sinclair Sneaks Right-Wing Spin Into Millions of Households
“… like a chameleon, Sinclair blends into the woodwork. Turn on your local news and you may well be watching a Sinclair station, even though it appears on your screen under the imprimatur of a major network like CBS, NBC or Fox. Here in the DC area, I occasionally tune into the local ABC affiliate, WJLA. Its newscasters are personable, and I like the weather forecasts. But then I remember that WJLA is owned by Sinclair. I know this only because I’m a weirdo who follows Sinclair, not because there’s any obvious on-air sign the network owns WJLA—there isn’t. That’s why Sinclair’s propaganda is so hard to detect.”
5. Larry Hogan and race
“[Amid the pandemic,] Hogan could’ve tapped a Black official or a sophisticated white one to help localities combat existing disparities and save lives. Instead, Hogan chose Steve Schuh to be his covid liaison to local leaders, a move that left me speechless. Schuh is part of a crew of Republicans from Anne Arundel County, where Hogan hails from, that run the gamut from retrograde to racist. I reported on these guys back in 2018, when Schuh was running for a second term as county executive, and Hogan for a second term as governor, with the two happily endorsing each other.”