It’s almost time to bid farewell to 2019 and embrace 2020 … or at least batten down the hatches for what’s coming. Before we do that, though, let’s take a look back at the past year and the stories that gripped readers the most. Our first group of ten has a wide range of topics, from the obscure to the enduring, all the way to the extraterrestrial. And you’ll be happy to know that the Epstein story didn’t kill itself in our first stanza, either!

Join us for a walk down Memory Lane … and wonder how many of these stories will still be going strong for next year’s Top 50, too. Here are the bottom ten of the Top 50 in countdown order:

• #50: “I’m Gonna Throw You Off The Set”: Greg Gutfeld, Juan Williams Go Nuclear Over Cohen Hearing — Remember when Michael Cohen was an actual thing to get angry about? As it turned out, Michael Cohen actually did have nothing. But we’ll always have this from February as a reminder …
• #49: “Non Sequitur” Cartoon Fall-Out Over Crude Message To Trump Continues — Also from February, it’s yet another example of an artist’s politics overwhelming his art, his taste, and also his commercial good sense. The comics pages aren’t just for kids, but they have enough kid-centered appeal that inserting “Go f*** yourself Trump” in a panel isn’t very funny at all.
• #48: Report: Lori Loughlin Thought The Feds Were Bluffing, Now “Freaking Out” About Having To Do Time In Prison — Although this one’s from April, it’s a headline that could well have been from last week. And, er … it kind of was.
• #47: Pilot Who Chased UFO Reveals A Lot More Of The Story — I’m not saying it’s aliens, and neither is Cmdr. David Fravor (USN retired). In fact, Fravor admits it’s occasionally the US Navy and its aviators. But not always.
• #46: NYC Restaurant Industry Jobs Evaporate After $15/Hr Wage Sets In — How many times do people need to learn the basics of markets, costs, supply, and incentives? Whatever lesson number we’re at, it’s that plus one, at least.
• #45: Trump Supporters Cleaned Up Tons Of Trash And The Baltimore Sun Is Not Happy About It (Update) — Alternate headline: No good deed goes unpunished. If it just takes a little effort to clean up a city like Baltimore, what does it say about the city that it takes outsiders to do it? Nothing that its news media wants reported, apparently.
• #44: Portland’s Plan To Address Homeless People Pooping In The Street Is Not A Hit With Neighbors — Before there was San Francisco, there was Portland. Or probably at roughly the same time, to be fair. At least Frisco’s still leading the Supermarket Pooping Sweepstakes.
• #43: Report: Hannity Telling Friends He Plans To Leave Fox News After His Contract Is Up — This story quieted down after a few days, but it’s not over yet. Sean Hannity’s contract runs through 2020. Expect to hear more about that in the new year.
• #42: The VA AG Seems A Little Cheesed Off Over Those Second Amendment Sanctuary Proclamations — This story from last Saturday hit the Top 50 chart with, er, a bullet. If cities want to declare themselves sanctuaries from federal law enforcement over immigration, why not over gun control legislation that arguably runs counter to the Second Amendment, too? This is why setting precedents of refusal to enforce laws is dangerous. Eventually, it will get applied to the laws you like. Better to just use the political process to craft those laws and repeal the others, and live with failure on either end as part of life in a democratic republic.
•  #41: Feds: Guess What We Found At Epstein’s Manhattan Mansion? Update: Pleads Not Guilty — Jeffrey Epstein makes his first appearance on the Top 50, and it won’t be his last. How could Epstein have been so arrogant to hold onto all this material? Well, his wealth and influence had kept him mainly safe for decades. When Epstein realized that his nfluence had hit its expiration date, he self-expired. Or did he? (Yes. Well, maybe.)