Long-time readers will recall that your correspondent was a conservative columnist for the uber-liberal Aspen Times for seven years. In that time, I became the most-read columnist in the Aspen area. My columns frequently generated more clicks than front page news.

That was not acceptable to the Aspen Times. After all, I was hired to be a token, not to be a success. On Christmas Eve in 2019, they fired me. By email. As for their reasons, they stated that my “values” were incompatible with theirs. The story was widely published, including on national sites.

Ah, but there’s justice in this world. The Aspen Times conducts a “Best of Aspen” competition each year where readers vote for their favorites in various fields. One is “Best Columnist.” The winner for year 2020 – after I’d been fired in 2019 – was yours truly.

As things turned out, being fired from the Aspen Times was a blessing for me. My blog now reaches a readership that is orders of magnitude greater than the entire Aspen Times circulation. I recently passed the half-million mark.

The left’s monopoly over the media is over forever. Yes, they own Old Media. But they don’t own Substack, WordPress (which hosts my blog) or multiple other outlets. They sure don’t own me.

That pains them. They’re now trying to control these alternate sources of news and opinion. But their task is like whack-a-mole or plugging the holes in a leaky dam. In the days of the internet, censorship is impossible. That drives them stark, raving, foaming and frothing mad.

The Aspen Times’ annual “Best of Aspen” competition has now begun for 2021. You and your friends can vote. In fact, they permit you to vote early and often (though it seems that you can vote only once a day).

I’ve once again been nominated for “Best Columnist.” The link to vote is HERE. Scroll down to the “Best Columnist” category near the end. They’ll ask for an email address, but it’s easy to later opt out of their email list or simply block them.

For a real hoot, I’ve also been nominated for “Mr. Aspen” which is the first of the categories at that link. (Interesting that there’s only a “Mr” and “Ms” category – what about the other 61 genders???) Imagine if the conservative columnist fired by the liberal Aspen Times for bad “values” is voted by its readers not only “Best Columnist” but also “Mr. Aspen.”

Note: I get nothing but grins and schadenfreude out of all this. If you ever want to join me in grins and schadenfreude by getting on my free subscriber list, the link is HERE.