It was a year that began with the impeachment of a President accused of high crimes and misdemeanors by the House of Representatives, yet was acquitted by a Senate whose party was held in thrall by the same man whose careers they depended on, so they let him skate. It ends with this same President defeated at the polls, yet as his term nears its conclusion continues to cling to the notion that Democratic voter fraud made him the real winner. And President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are waiting in the wings.
It was a year that began with a viral outbreak in China that spread to the rest of the world with devastating consequences. The President, when told about it, chose to sit tight and refer to it as a hoax. As casualties across the United States mounted and life as we knew it went undercover, he held "superspreader" campaign events with masks optional before getting sick himself. By the end of the year, with over 300,000 dead and millions infected, the President no longer seems to care about the virus that came to be known as COVID-19 ruining his chances of re-election. If he ever did.
It was a year when George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black individuals were murdered by police officers who thought they were breaking the law--just because they were Black. This led to demonstrations and rioting in the streets of major cities, Black Lives Matter becoming more than just a slogan, athletes and entertainers picking up the mantle for social justice, and much soul searching no matter who you were. The President's response? He sent National Guard and other troops to quell demonstrators in such cities as Washington and Portland, OR while posing with an upside-down Bible and yelling "LAW AND ORDER!", representing neither. Cha-chung. By year's end, we still don't know what really happened to Floyd, Taylor and the others.
It was a year when, because of coronavirus, everything was closed or went underground. Events were postponed or canceled. Zoom meetings became one of the safer ways to communicate. Unlikely products such as toilet paper and household cleaning products became scarce. Streaming services such as Disney+ and Netflix had big years as people didn't have much to do but watch TV, and theaters were forced to close.
It was a year when someone like Sarah Cooper could do dead-on impressions of the President and the First Lady and be a hit on social media, leading to a Netflix TV special. Or when Taylor Swift recorded three albums in a year's time ("Lover", "Folklore", "Evermore"), two of them during the pandemic.
It was a year when sports continued against all logic while the pandemic raged. The NBA, NHL and WNBA conducted their regular season and playoffs inside tightly-controlled bubbles. Major League Baseball, the NFL and college football played their seasons in empty stadiums under open skies. There were some postponements due to players either becoming ill or testing positive for the virus. It was clear this was all done for the benefit of TV networks, whose lucrative contracts with the leagues may have possibly kept them from going under, never mind the health and safety of the players.
Most of all, though, it was a year of death. Herewith, an extensive list of those you might have heard of who passed away during 2020, whether it was due to COVID-19 or not. Cue Sarah McLachlan's "Angel".
Don Larsen, Sam Wyche, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Edd Byrnes, Buck Henry, Jim Lehrer, Kobe Bryant, Jack Burns, Marj Dusay, Fred Silverman, Mary Higgins Clark, Gene Reynolds, Willie Wood, Kirk Douglas, Roger Kahn, Orson Bean, Paula Kelly, Zoe Caldwell, Ja'Net DuBois, Mickey Wright, Pop Smoke, Jeanne Evert, AP Indy, B.Smith, Ahmaud Arbery, Clive Cussler, Lee Phillip Bell, Bobbie Battista, Ruth Born, Mal Sharpe, Roger Mayweather, Lyle Waggoner, Kenny Rogers, Jimmy Wynn, Orlando McDaniel. Joe Diffie, KT Oslin, Pierre Cardin, David Stern, Jacob Blake, Ed Farmer, James Drury, Al Kaline, Herb Stempel, Carl Dobkins Jr., Linda Tripp, Mort Drucker, Saul Turteltaub, Pete Retzlaff, Jim Frey, Stirling Moss, Hank Steinbrenner, Milt Sunde, Bobby Lewis, Matt Keough, Don Shula, Barry Farber, Brian Howe, Roy Horn, Little Richard, Betty Wright, Jerry Stiller, Pepper Rodgers, Phyllis George, Fred Willard, Ken Osmond, Chuck Graham, Jerry Sloan, Eddie Sutton, Larry Kramer, Randy Staten, Pat Dye, Lee Grosscup, Wes Unseld, Johnny Majors, Dick Garmaker, Mike McCormick, Jean Kennedy Smith, Lester Crystal, Benny Mardones, Carl Reiner, Sean Connery, Regis Philbin, Chadwick Boseman, Phil Niekro, Ann Reinking, John LeCarre, Charley Pride, David Lander, David Prowse. Diego Maradona, Alex Trebek, Nikki McKibbin, Leanza Cornett, Conchata Ferrell, Whitey Ford, Johnny Nash, Eddie Van Halen, Helen Reddy, Mac Davis, Gale Sayers, Pamela Hutchinson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Diana Rigg, Lou Brock, Cliff Robinson, Reni Santoni, Wilford Brimley, Alan Parker, Herman Cain, Olivia de Haviland, Grant Imchara, Naya Rivera, Kelly Preston, Charlie Daniels, Nick Cordero, Hugh Downs, Ian Holm, Chuck Yeager, Ken Hansley, John Prine, Joe Morgan, Bob Gibson, Tommy DeVito, Winston Groom, Stanley Crouch, Shere Hite, Tom Seaver, John Thompson, Gail Sheehy, Ben Cross, Trini Lopez, Sumner Redstone, Brent Scowcroft, Pete Hamill, John Saxon, John Lewis, Christo, Lynn Shelton, Peter Beard, Brian Dennehy, Honor Blackman, Bobby Mitchell, Tom Dempsey, Bill Withers, Curly Neal, Stuart Whitman, Max von Sydow, McCoy Tyner, James Lipton, Robert Conrad, Terry Jones, Jim Ramstad, Sid Hartman, Tom Hanneman, Chris Doleman, Tarvaris Jackson, Bob McDonald, John Hankinson, Henri Richard, Tom Heinsohn, Paul Hornung, Rafer Johnson, Dick Allen, Kevin Greene, KC Jones, Ron Perranoski, Nancy Dorsch, Dawn Wells
Everybody, it seems, is looking forward to 2021. Let's see where it leads to.
