This was the year of Taylor Swift. She sold out football stadiums with her Eras Tour. sold millions of records whether she made or remade them, became an inspiration to millions, and made headlines for dating an NFL player, creating the most highly-publicized romance since--I don't know--Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. And Time magazine bestowed Swift with its "Person of The Year" honors, something which has not happened to an entertainer. Clearly, the sky's the limit for Taylor Swift. But life is a blank space. Someday, she might be writing songs about all this.
Elsewhere, war continues in Ukraine as they hold on for dear life against Putin's Russia and increasingly reluctant support from Europe and Washington. A new Middle East war between Israel and Hamas is creating divisions around the world of anti-Semitism, and whether one should support the Palestinian people without having to support Hamas.
Donald Trump has been indicted four times since leaving the White House, yet he's taking advantage of the slow-moving justice system to make another run for President--so he could make all those indictments moot. No one, it seems, can stop him. His poll numbers are steamrolling over his Republican opponents, who don't seem to know what to do with him on the way to the nomination. Meanwhile, Trump continues to rant and rave against immigrants and his enemies, and his fans are just eating it up. Do we need to ask whether you want this guy in the White House again?
President Joe Biden, on the other hand, has been a steady presence for the past couple of years and has restored much of this country's respect that was squandered by Trump. So how come he can't seem to convince folks that the economy is doing great despite inflation? Or that he is now the oldest President in history, and is running again only because the Democrats can't find anyone who's younger and can beat Trump? Trump is no spring chicken either, but no one wants to talk about that because he thinks he's Superman.
Congress is a mess. We've known that for years, yet it keeps getting worse in the era of political hyper-partisanship. The House of Representatives, with its GOP cast of characters, has such ineffective leadership that they went a few weeks between Speakers of the House while the country was on the brink of bankruptcy. All they seem to be interested in is impeaching President Biden and indicting his son Hunter. They did manage to kick George Santos out for being not all there, but that doesn't explain why the rest are still there. The Democrats who control the Senate seem to be hamstrung because of the House's shenanigans that they're not getting much done either.
If this wasn't the warmest year ever on the planet, you haven't been paying attention. Record high temperatures, wildfires, smoke from wildfires, drought, flooding, you name it. Despite agreements to limit the amount of carbon and other things, we face more of the same because the powers that be don't seem to think it's a real problem, and that we will continue to depend on fossil fuels because that's what it will take to run all the solar panels and electric vehicles in the world.
Elon Musk is the other most important person in the world who screwed up this year. He bought Twitter, ran it into the ground by reinstating all those right-wing characters who used to be banned from the site and causing normal users to flee, then changed the name to X (or as we call it, The Site Called X). Actually, all of social media has been called into question for everything including Facebook's alleged shenanigans to banning Tik Tok because of its Chinese connection.
Hollywood actors and writers spent several months on the picket lines, striking for higher wages and assurances that their jobs won't be replaced by the alleged scourge known as Artificial Intelligence. Production was shut down, TV broadcast networks were forced to put up with reality-laden shows, and viewers started checking out those streaming services they've heard so much about. Both strikes are over, and one wonders whether AI will really be the scourge everyone fears.
The Women's World Cup was won by Spain, but has long since been overshadowed by a scandal caused by the president of that country's soccer federation who took it upon himself to kiss the lips of one of the team's stars during the trophy presentation.. He was forced to resign. The Spanish women's team still has to live with it.
Those who left us in 2023: Bob Knight, Frank Howard, Richard Moll, Richard Roundtree, Tina Turner, Gordon Lightfoot, Jimmy Buffett, Bud Grant, Jeff Beck, Lisa Marie Presley, David Crosby, Barrett Strong, Burt Bacharach, Bobby Caldwell, April Stevens, Astrud Gilberto, Harry Belafonte, Ed Ames, Tony Bennett, Sinead O'Connor, Randy Meisner, Robbie Robertson, Dwight Twilley, Jean Knight, Denny Laine, Jim Ladd, Burt Young, Andy Bean, Piper Laurie, Suzanne Somers, Phyllis Coates, Brooks Robinson, David McCallum, Roger Whittaker, Henry Boucha, Herb Kohl, Tom Smothers, Dianne Feinstein, Matthew Perry, Rosalynn Carter, Andre Braugher, Ryan O'Neal, Norman Lear, Chad Allan, Sandra Day O'Connor, Frances Sternhagen, Henry Kissinger, Betty Rollin, Marty Krofft, Ken Squier, Frank Borman, Jerry Springer, Paul Reubens, Bob Barker, Bill Richardson, Albert Quie, Raquel Welch, Alan Arkin, Cormac McCarthy, Robbie Bachman, Treat Williams, William Friedkin, Rudolph Isley, Tom Sizemore, Al Jaffee, Cindy Williams, Glenda Jackson, George Maharis, Melinda Dillon, Robert Blake, Stella Stevens
2024 is coming. Prepare yourselves.
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