Welcome back to our retrospective on the most-read posts at Hot Air in 2014, a chance to revisit some narratives and old “friends,” as it were. One of those is Eric Cantor, who neglected to take care of business back home and got sent back there as a result in the primaries. Treasury got nostalgic for old debts, and an attempt to revisit an old “war” turns out as badly as the first one. We’ll take a trip to the ranch, and take up a hobby or two. What’s not to like?

• #30: Montana Democrats have made a huge mistake – John Walsh was supposed to be the safety valve for Democrats in Montana, and Barack Obama gave Max Baucus a key diplomatic assignment to get him out of the way so that Walsh could get a shortcut to the Senate election. That wasn’t the only shortcut Walsh took in his career, and his War College plagiarism blew up the Democrats’ strategy. (Noah)
• #29: The new New Math: Byzantine subtraction in Common Core – “Oh, let’s not always see the same hands.” Erick Erickson pointed this out first, but it’s emblematic of the too-clever-for-their-own-good approach to education curricula these days. (Ed)
• #28: Open thread: Tonight’s the night we retire Eric Cantor and Lindsey Graham; Update: Cantor in deep trouble early; Update: Cantor loses? Update: AP calls it for Dave Brat – AP was just joking when he wrote the headline, and sure enough, Graham easily won his primary — because Graham knows how to do constituent services and spent considerable time in his state to prepare for it. Cantor spent more on steakhouses than Brat spent on the whole campaign, and now Cantor’s in the private sector again instead of the next in line for Boehner’s gavel. (Allahpundit)
• #27: The left loses their minds over Hobby Lobby decision – They had a lot invested in the argument that business owners can’t make their own decisions on religious values. When the Supreme Court struck down in part the HHS contraception mandate for private for-profit corporations, MSNBC and the Left began shrieking about shari’a and misogyny. Consider it the least-surprising aspect of the decision. (Noah)
• #26: Florida dad beats the living hell out of man who allegedly sexually assaulted his son, then calls the cops – That’s pretty much the entire story. An ambitious prosecutor might have pressed charges against the father, but only if he was happy to lose any election he ever ran … and found another city and state in which to live. (Allahpundit)
• #25: Shakedown: Treasury now seizing tax refunds from adult children to pay parents’ decades-old Social Security debts – After reading the headline, you’d be tempted to respond that it sounds so stupid that only Congress could have created the problem — and you’d be right. Just a few days later, Treasury ended its two-generation debt collection efforts, and some in Congress looked for ways to reverse their own error. (Allahpundit)
• #24: Obama critic indicted for campaign-finance fraud, obstruction – At the time, the indictment of Dinesh D’Souza raised some eyebrows, and some questions about prosecutorial focus on such a public Obama critic. The questions faded when D’Souza pled guilty a few months later. (Ed)
• #23: Video: Democrat’s “War on Fox News” turns into hilarious rout; Update: Missed filing deadline? – Before Dave Brat, it looked like the biggest threat to Eric Cantor would be Mike Dickinson in the general election. In an epic interview by Greta van Susteren, Dickinson — who pledged to wage war against Fox News and the Tea Party — admitted that he lied about his own resumé, and followed up by failing to meet the filing deadline. (Ed)
• #22: MSNBC host debates Michele Fiore on Bundy ranch. Does not fare well. – The Bundy ranch incident has largely faded from memory, but this was one moment that highlighted the lack of journalistic curiosity about the circumstances that fired off the controversy. It’s a demonstration of what can happen when an interviewer doesn’t prepare properly for an interview. (Jazz)
• #21: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Why aren’t we also outraged that Donald Sterling was secretly recorded? – An excellent question from one of the NBA’s legends, and not offered necessarily to defend the now-ex-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Did a vengeful mistress take advantage of an old man’s trust? Abdul-Jabbar wanted prison time for the girlfriend, but that issue didn’t deflect much criticism of Sterling in the end. (Allahpundit)

Tomorrow we’ll get into the Top 20, and recall the moments when a metropolitan police chief endorsed personal carry, and recall another carry enthusiast who defended his community, as well as revisit the media’s Palinoia. Don’t miss it! While you’re waiting, though, enjoy one of Noah’s recent entertaining posts that only missed our year-end retrospective by a few slots: Harvard Law student’s disastrous argument for delayed exams due to emotional trauma blows up.