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Blogging Tag

I think this will be a tradition now, at least as long as I can remember to do it. Last year we posted the 10 most viewed Legal Insurrection posts in 2015, and it was well received. So here we go again. 2016 was a turbulent year, but I'm pleased that year over year, we increased page views by 1 million views versus 2015, to over 16 million views. And 2015 was over 1 million page views over 2014. So things are heading in the right direction. We didn't see a huge election year bounce this year, but we also didn't crash like many "conservative" websites, and our traffic is up post-election. So without further introduction, here are our 10 most viewed posts, plus an honorable mention.

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats starts with words (highlighted) I think of very often:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
I recently highlighted those words, "the center cannot hold," to a friend when describing some of the insane rantings I've seen on Facebook against Trump and about the election result. Liberals have lost it.

With a newborn and a seven-year-old, quiet is a rarity. But everyone is sleeping soundly after our first Christmas as one, big family. This year has been one of the best, if not THE best year of my life. Getting married, gaining a step-daughter, growing a tiny human -- it's all more than I ever imagined. Regular readers know that I've frequently joked (sort of) about what an awful year 2016 has been. An almost uncanny number of well-known, talented people have passed on this year, our entire political world was tased by the silent majority's Death Star, and to top if off, the year is ending with a nation-wide whipped cream shortage.

I'm baaaaack! Sort of. Kind of. Partially, anyway. I'm covered in spit up, am pretty sure there's more dry shampoo than hair on my head, am not entirely sure when I last showered, have dark circles not even the heaviest of concealers could conquer, our home is a certifiable disaster area, and dishes? we've moved to paper dining ware (usually I'd feel morally obligated to stick to more eco-friendly methods, but I really don't care right now). I've done more laundry in the last two weeks than I've probably done all year prior and I couldn't be happier. I've spent the last two weeks welcoming the newest addition to our family -- Klara Cadence. She was born September 30. I'm slowly easing my way back into blogging as I learn to manage both the blog and one seriously adorable baby. 14707922_10109008771975624_5385614534991581568_o

The University of Tennessee  at Knoxville apparently doesn't want to take on the leader of the Army of Davids. We reported the other day that UTK was "investigating" Prof. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit over the tweet suggesting that drivers surrounded by the violent racist mobs of rioters on Charlotee highways "run them down," Twitter suspends Instapundit for suggesting people not become victims of racist thug rioters (Update): Instapundit Tweet Charlotte Riots Any reasonable person would have understood that tweet to mean that if threatened with deadly force by the rioters, you could escape by driving through the mob. That tweet and advice was consistent with the law of self-defense.

There have been two BIG changes that took place yesterday. The first was the creation of the Quick Take section at Legal Insurrection, and the second was the consolidation of higher ed coverage at Legal Insurrection.

Quick Takes

You may recall that on December 12, 2015, I announced that we were creating a new section of Legal Insurrection, and invited readers to Help name our new section.
I love this video. Brilliant. It’s also an excuse to tease out that we’re *likely* to have a new section of Legal Insurrection sometime early in the new year where we can do more spontaneous, shorter posts in addition to the full posts in the main column

Yesterday I published details on Anne Sorock's Research Report: #BlackLivesMatter more about radical social upheaval than “Black Lives”. I mentioned in the post how Anne uses the Deep Values methodology she learned while interacting with the Food & Brand Lab at Cornell University while getting her MBA. Deep values research seeks to understand not just what consumers like or want, but what deeply held values lead to such decisions. At the Frontier Lab, Anne has applied deep values methodology to numerous political topics, including  why people decide to become politically activeOccupy movement participants’ motivations, and why Republicans won’t call themselves Republican, among others. I also mentioned that Anne had applied that methodology several years ago to understanding why Legal Insurrection readers read Legal Insurrection, and that I might share those findings with you.

I was doing some stuff around the site earlier this week when I stumbled upon my LI blogging stats --stats that revealed I was dangerously close to the 1,000 blog post marker. 1,000 blog posts. I know I've blogged a fair amount in the last (almost) two years I've been working at this great site, but if asked, I never would've guessed I was anywhere close to 1,000 blog posts. Because this is the magic 1,000th post, seems fitting I treat it like the milestone it is. I'll spare everyone a lengthy piece full of shallow profundities, but will instead share a few facts and things I've learned along the golden LI way.

I've changed my profile pic. For the first time since Legal Insurrection was founded on October 12, 2008. It's part of a new attitude. Hopefully it will last. In other news, I'm *almost* out of the woods on family health issues which have stressed the hell out of me the past few months and particularly the past few weeks. Assuming no further downturns, I should be *back* by the end of the month. Go ahead, sing it: Recently, we welcomed Mary Chastain and Mark Finkelstein to Legal Insurrection.

My husband Jeff and I are thrilled to announce that our family will have a new addition this fall. Sometime around October 4th our family will have another baby girl. Just in time for the election!

Fight Twitter management behavior, but don't leave the arena....

On Saturday morning we posted a brief compilation of recent events suggesting Twitter might be targeting conservatives, Is Twitter Silencing Conservatives? The impetus Saturday was the suspension of Robert Stacy McCain's account (@rsmccain).  McCain blogs at TheOtherMcCain.com and last February published a book, Sex Trouble: Essays on Radical Feminism and the War Against Human Nature.  That followed de-verification of Milo Yiannopoulos's account (@Nero).  Like McCain, Yiannopoulos is a prominent critic of modern feminism and the Gordian Knot of accusations and recriminations known as "Gamergate."  Oversimplified, Gamergate involves issues about the poor treatment of women in the gaming community.