Remember when we were all looking forward to 2021 after a disastrous 2020?
The pandemic is still with us, having taken more than 800,000 in this country alone through COVID-19 and its variants Delta and Omicron. In spite of vaccines and booster shots that give you a better chance against the virus, we're tired of telling people who don't want the vaccine to get one because we're also tired of listening to their excuses. We're also tired of having to wear masks, at least indoors, even though they're a good way to hold back the virus. We're also tired of crowded hospitals, overwhelmed doctors, nurses and support staff, zoom meetings, your kids learning remotely, etc. But most of all, we're tired because there seems to be no end in sight.
The coup attempt on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 has so far resulted in indictments on the protestors who participated in storming it while a full session of Congress was going on, and not so much for the alleged perpetrators of the event. The House of Representatives stepped in to investigate this matter because the Senate can't or won't offend Donald Trump, the former President who still thinks he should have won the 2020 election. Realistically, they have until the 2022 midterms to wrap up their work finding heads willing to roll.
Joe Biden, the man who now sits in the White House, deserves credit for lowering the temperature from the previous administration. He also deserves credit for ending America's longest war in Afghanistan, though the way he left was a lot to be desired, reminding one of the way America finally left Vietnam in chaos in 1975. The President's efforts to fix up the infrastructure and his Build Back Better social agenda have had mixed results thanks to the Democratic roadblocks in Congress no one had heard of until this year--Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and (to a lesser extent) Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both moderates who could pass for Republicans in this political climate. In other ways, especially when it comes to the virus, Biden appears to be in over his head just like Trump was. But at least he's taking the job more seriously. With all that's happened, can you believe this is only Biden's first year in office?
The U.S. Supreme Court already had its conservative coup, which resulted in a 6-3 majority, and whose decisions might eventually lead to a more restrictive country. The most notorious thus far is the one about upholding Texas' new and restrictive abortion law, leaving women in that state with nowhere to turn and no one to trust (legally) when they find out they're pregnant. Most Democrats and women's rights groups fear this is the beginning of the end for Roe v. Wade, the ruling that has kept abortions safe and legal for half a century. Something tells me 2022 is not the year for a change in the Supreme Court to a more liberal mix. Not unless Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell decides to hang it up.
One year after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was recorded taking a knee to George Floyd's life during a routine traffic stop, he was convicted of murder. Eight months after Brooklyn Park officer Kim Potter mistook a gun for a taser in killing Daunte Wright in a routine traffic stop, she was convicted on two counts of manslaughter. Cries of "Defund the Police" resulted in an election day defeat in Minneapolis. The police chief who was on duty when Floyd's murder and the violence that hit the Twin Cities were going on has "retired", and Mark Frey won a second term as Minneapolis' mayor. Now let's see if police officers (and everyone else) really can be careful out there.
Did we mention a school shooting in Michigan and a car ramming through a holiday parade in Wisconsin? Just another day in America, right?
In sports, COVID went away long enough to allow Tom Brady to claim another Super Bowl trophy for his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay's NHL team, the Lightning. won its second straight Stanley Cup. Atlanta's baseball team won the World Series. And the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA title for the first time since 1970. Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Kyrie Irving made more headlines for NOT playing than for when they did. And Major League Baseball is currently in a lockout, in case you haven't noticed.
Heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest. Tornadoes in December in Minnesota and Kentucky. A deep-freeze in Texas. Wildfires out West and in Canada, creating smoke alerts in half the country. Is this climate change, or just the sound of progress?
It's been over a year since Alex Trebek went to that Game Show in the Sky, and "Jeopardy" still hasn't come up with a permanent host. After the parade of guest hosts has come and gone (Aaron Rodgers, Katie Couric and that guy from CNBC, anyone?), we're left with the tag team of former champion Ken Jennings and sitcom star Mayim Bialik after executive producer Mike Richards had to quit due to some stupid indiscretion. For a show based on answers and questions, the most important one right now is how "Jeopardy" should address its future.
THOSE WHO PASSED IN 2021: John Madden, Henry Reid, Desmond Tutu, Joan Didion, bell hooks, Anne Rice, Michael Nesmith, Lina Wertmuller, Al Unser, Robert Dole, Arlene Dahl, Lee Elder, Stephen Sondheim, Graeme Edge, Max Cleland, Dean Stockwell, Mort Sahl, Colin Powell, Leslie Bricusse, Melvin Van Peebles, Jane Powell, Norm Macdonald, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Willard Scott, David Patten, Mikis Theodorakis, Ed Asner, Charlie Watts, Don Everly, Tom T. Hall, Nanci Griffith, Dusty Hill, Ron Popeil, Richard Donner, Mike Gravel, Janet Malcolm, Frank Bonner, Ned Beatty, Dick Robinson, Clarence Williams III, F. Lee Bailey, Gavin MacLeod, John Warner, Lee Evans, Charles Grodin, Norman Lloyd, Tawny Kitaen, Lloyd Price, Bobby Unser, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Collins, Walter Mondale, Jim Steinman, Felix Silla, Prince Phillip (Duke of Edinburgh), DMX, Anne Beatts, Larry McMurtry, Beverly Cleary, Jessica Walter, George Segal, Yaphet Kotto, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Roger Mudd, Lou Otters, Mark Pavelich, Vernon Jordan, Chick Corea, Mary Wilson, George Shultz, Christopher Plummer, Leon Spinks, Rennie Davis, Dustin Diamond, Cicely Tyson, Cloris Leachman, Larry King, Hank Aaron, Tommy Lasorda, Michael Apted, Neil Sheehan, Rush LImbaugh, Sarah Weddington, F.W. deKlerk, Peter Scolari, Michael K. Williams, Markie Post, Carl Levin, Biz Markie, Suzanne Douglas, Donald Rumsfeld, Bobby Bowden, Paul Westphal, Elgin Baylor, Phil Spector, Tony Trabert, Marty Schottenheimer, Larry Flynt, Bobby Brown, G. Gordon Liddy, Pervis Staples, B.J. Thomas, Walter Yetnikoff, Michael Constantine, Alan Kalter, Betty Lynn, Sam Jones, and Betty White.
