The First Annual NonZero Awards
Soon to be the highest honor in all of non-mainstream media!
Happy Impending New Year! And welcome to our first annual end-of-the-year awards issue. Feel free to use the comments section to vigorously contest our selections, or bestow any end-of-the-year awards you feel like bestowing, or just reflect on the past year or the year to come. See you in 2025!
Worst Tweet of the Year: Andrew Bates
On July 11, in the wake of a disastrous debate with Donald Trump, President Biden tried to salvage his reelection hopes by holding a press conference focused on foreign policy, one of his cognitive comfort zones. After a performance widely deemed disappointing—which included calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump”—White House spokesperson Andrew Bates declared the event a triumph:
Biden withdrew from the race ten days later.
Most Cartoonish Corruption: Bob Menendez
When some people think of political corruption, they think of the novel “All The King’s Men” or the TV show “The Wire.” When the corruption involves former Sen. Bob Menendez, they should think Looney Tunes.
Menendez, who was convicted of corruption in July and now awaits sentencing, agreed to help fast track weapons sales to Egypt, grease the skids for a Qatari-funded business deal, and do various other things in exchange for a luxury car and at least $100,000 worth of gold bars. Authorities didn’t say whether the gold bars were delivered in a sack with a big dollar sign on it.
We know what you’re thinking: Can a US senator really be bought off for just $100K and a car? Not in this case, no. Menendez also got about half a million dollars in cash, which he wisely stored in a safe and… a pair of jackets emblazoned with his name and workplace.
Most Circuitous Corruption: Eric Adams
Have you ever considered flying through Istanbul on a trip from New York to Chile? If so, you may be New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Back in September, federal prosecutors indicted Adams for allegedly accepting bribes from Turkish authorities, many of which came in the form of free or discounted flights on Turkish Airlines. Since those flights tended to connect through Istanbul, Adams spent an inordinate amount of time by the Bosphorus. In 2017, when his girlfriend asked why he dropped by Istanbul on the way to Paris, Adams reminded her that the “first stop is always instanbul [sic].”
During his Istanbul stopovers, Adams sometimes solicited donations from Turkish officials to help fund his political campaigns, according to prosecutors. He allegedly returned the favor by, among other things, pressuring his city’s fire department to overlook code violations in order to facilitate the opening of a Turkish consular building ahead of a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Adams, who denies the allegations, says he has fully cooperated with the investigation. An example: He says that, the day before police seized his phone, he changed the password on it to make sure staffers wouldn’t delete any messages and thus impede the investigation. Unfortunately, Adams explains, he then forgot the new password—so (ironically!) the investigation got impeded.
Despite his many alleged shenanigans, Adams may avoid time behind bars. President-elect Trump said recently that he is weighing a pardon for the New York mayor, who has been “treated pretty unfairly,” in Trump’s opinion.
Best Feigning of Incomprehension: Sabrina Singh
Earlier this month, an Al Jazeera reporter asked Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh to explain “what legal authority, either international or national,” allows the US to deploy troops in Syria. Singh’s immediate response merits consideration for an Academy Award. And the answer she finally gives merits consideration for a Red Herring Award. So a Trifecta is within her reach, because she’s definitely earned a NonZero Award. Congratulations, Sabrina!
AI Buzzword of the Year
And the winner is… “agentic”! This decision was a close call, because there’s an argument for saving “agentic” for next year’s awards. It’s in 2025 that the word will reach peak frequency in AI marketing pitches. That’s also the year AI agents will become significant players in people’s homes (doing things like finding products and putting them in Amazon shopping carts, or narrowing down Airbnb choices) and in people’s workplaces (doing things like taking their jobs—or, in more upbeat scenarios, increasing their productivity).
However, 2024 is the year when two big agency-relevant landmarks were reached: 1) Anthropic unveiled “computer use”—a feature that enables an AI to navigate the web in service of an assignment you give it—and Google then introduced similar functionality as part of “Project Astra”; 2) OpenAI introduced large language models—o1 and then o3—that are trained to do “chain of thought” reasoning, which is expected to help AI agents pursue complex and open-ended tasks without getting derailed.
Our condolences to AI safety advocate Connor Leahy, who, during a 2023 appearance on the NonZero Podcast, was pretty emphatic about the perils of hooking AIs up to the internet and letting them do stuff. This had already happened in a limited way when the conversation with Connor was taped; now it will go mainstream.
Creepiest Crossover of the Year: ISIS and AI
What’s scarier than an apocalyptic terror group with a penchant for beheadings? An AI-powered apocalyptic terror group with a penchant for beheadings.
Back in May, Pranshu Verma of the Washington Post chronicled how some ISIS supporters are deploying AI-generated news anchors that read pro-ISIS dispatches. The new genre took shape after one supporter suggested that it would “be great if the brothers produced videos regarding daily news, as an alternative to reading the news in text.” The resulting videos are cheaper than the organization’s famously well-produced propaganda videos, and they’re probably more likely to get around moderation on major social media platforms.
Most Improved Blobster: Max Boot
Max Boot, now a columnist at the Washington Post, made his name as a neocon who reliably promoted a muscular US foreign policy. But this year, he’s 1) criticized outgoing President Biden for enabling Israel’s reckless militarism, 2) urged incoming President Trump to strike a deal with Iran to reduce Middle East tensions, and 3) complained that America’s targeted killings outside war zones set a dangerous precedent. Such opinions signify that Boot has made real progress on the long road from neoconservatism to enlightenment. Not as much progress as would be required to escape the Blob, to be sure. But it’s a start.
Tech Comeback of the Year: Nuclear Power
For decades, high-profile disasters tarnished nuclear energy’s reputation, helping to prevent the nuclear future that sci-fi novels had long envisioned. But the gargantuan energy needs of artificial intelligence have sparked a resurgence of enthusiasm for the carbon-free power source, with several tech companies funding nuclear projects this year.
Better Late than Never Award: Robert Farley
In November, political scientist Robert Farley of the University of Kentucky co-authored a piece in Foreign Policy with this headline:
We agree! In fact, we think it’s past time for Ukraine to “make the best peace it can.” Back in December of 2022, NZN’s OG staffer (aka Bob) argued in the Washington Post that President Biden should use America’s leverage as Ukraine’s arms supplier to push President Zelensky toward peace talks—and use the leverage conspicuously, playing the bad cop and thus insulating Zelensky from domestic political blowback.
The Post piece explained why it was naive to assume that Ukraine’s recent military successes signified an enduring shift in momentum, but Farley believed that they did and, accordingly, maligned the piece, saying it should have been entitled “Bob Sells Out Ukraine.”
Well, maybe, but if the recommended “sellout” (which was also advocated by Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) had happened, lots of dead Ukrainians would still be alive, and lots of Ukrainian land that’s now in Russian hands wouldn’t be.
Rebrand of the Year: Abu Mohammad al-Jolani/ Ahmed al-Sharaa
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani entered the year as an internationally wanted terrorist with a long history of ties to al-Qaeda and ISIS. But, with his militia having led an offensive that toppled the Assad regime, Jolani goes into 2025 as the de facto leader of Syria. He has marked the occasion by changing his name back to Ahmed al-Sharaa (“Jolani” was his nom de guerre) and sporting some western-friendly outfits. The rebrand appears to be working: Since knocking off Assad, al-Sharaa has held friendly meetings with officials from the United Nations, the United States and Great Britain, all of which officially consider his militia to be a terrorist organization.
Best Musician Who…
NZN wanted to give an award for World’s Best Musician, but staff disagreement compelled us to restrict the pool of candidates. After this narrowing of the field, the choice became clear: Congratulations to Antony Blinken for winning the award for Best Musician Who Is Also a Failed Secretary of State.
During the never-ending Gaza War, Blinken’s missions to try to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu became famous for their fruitlessness. And Blinken made no attempt to negotiate an end to the Ukraine War (which he also made no real attempt to avert via serious diplomacy during the months before Putin’s invasion).
However, Blinken did do this much: He showed up in a Kyiv bar, strapped on his guitar, and joined a local band in a rendition of “Rockin’ in the Free World” that fully deserved the polite applause it got. He’s even showcased his musical talents on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
It’s common to kid amateur musicians by telling them not to give up their day job. But in Blinken’s case, we’ve sometimes thought that the world might be better off if he did give up his day job and focused instead on rockin’ in the free world. (What we’ve never thought is that it would be good for him to be replaced by Marco Rubio—who may well be only a few guitar lessons away from winning this award next year.)
Oligarch of the Year: Elon Musk
This was the year that Elon Musk officially evolved into a political animal. He played a big role in getting Donald Trump re-elected, donating at least $260 million to pro-Trump groups and putting his social media clout in Trump’s service. And now he’s throwing his weight behind nationalist parties in Europe. NZN has even suggested that Musk is America’s “first true oligarch.” We’d be delighted if he turned out to be the last, but the trend lines don’t seem to be pointing in that direction.
Most Regrettable Retirement: Ron Kampeas
It’s become more common over the past couple of decades for reporters to smuggle their personal views into ostensibly objective articles. Ron Kampeas, who retired this year after decades of journalistic service, resisted this trend.
Ron reported from Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, and various other places for outlets including the Associated Press and the Jerusalem Post. He spent the past 21 years as the Washington bureau chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a century-old newswire that features reporting and analysis of particular interest to Jews around the world. During his time at JTA, Ron made five appearances on the NonZero Podcast, including a recent episode in which he broke down how Israel and America’s Jewish community have changed since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
Much of Ron’s work focused on what may be the world’s most controversial conflict—and a conflict about which Ron, a Zionist, has opinions. But those opinions didn’t stop him from seeking a range of perspectives and engaging with journalists and activists who disagreed with him (and with many of his readers). For proof, look no further than his nuanced discussion of whether the phrase “from the river to the sea” should be considered antisemitic.
We wish Ron the best of luck in his well-deserved retirement!
Best Dressed Guest: Mickey Kaus
By Robert Wright, Andrew Day and Connor Echols
Best NonZero crossover with another Substack: NonZero and Small Potatoes
Best new NonZero feature: NonZero World (honorable mention: Bob’s sermonettes)
Most underrated NonZero Feature: either the lives (we need more!) or having some of the essays recorded as audio (helps during long drives)
Most trippy interview: possibly one of the interviews about AI but they were at times beyond me, so I nominate the interview with Scott Horton because he sounded like he stepped out of a movie from the late 1960s / early 1970s.
Thanks, NonZero Team, for a memorable 2024!! You kept me sane with your humor and insight. I look forward to what awaits in 2025.
Thanks for a year of great content, Bob et al. Looking forward to 2025.