2020 seems an especially important year to document, so I compiled a list of major themes and events from the year. It's certainly not a complete list, but it gives a rough outline for the year's intertwined complexities.
Major Themes
- Wildfires. Australia sees devastating wildfires early in 2020, and California has a similar wave of wilfires from July through September.
- Brexit happened. I think.
- Me Too movement sees Weinstein convicted.
- Black Lives Matter is reignited after a series of unarmed black men are killed by police. The new movement is sparked by the death of George Floyd, and refueled by repeated incidents through the year. Trump responds with a vague stance, and deploys a campaign of force for force's sake. He uses military force to clear protestors near the White House so that he can have his photo taken in front of someone else's church holding someone else's Bible. The church later objects to his actions. Trump also deploys federal operatives to cities (especially Portland) where people are then abducted and placed in unmarked vehicles. Nationwide, white milita types begin to appear at BLM protests brandishing long guns, claiming they are there to defend the peace. After a few months the situation escalates with Proud Boys and Trump parades arriving in convoys at BLM protests, provoking confrontations that result in several assaults and deaths around the country. In a NYT times poll, about 20% named BLM as the deciding their vote.
- Pandemic. About 100 years after the Spanish Flu pandemic. Some countries rise to the occassionand avoid disaster. Other countries – especially USA, Russian, Brazil, and Sweden – repeat some ofthe major mistakes made in 1918: publicly downplay or disregard the virus threat, adopt a fatalistic or strategy, prioritize economic or military affairs over public health, withhold anddistort public information. As of Dec 31, 2020, there are [em]at least[/em] 1.81 million worldwide deaths from the virus, with the USA leading at 343,000. Some memorable aspects:
- Panic shopping, people buy mass quantities of staple foods and supplies. Toilet paper is hard to find for a few months. Bananas and other products also in short supply. In later analysis, shortages are attributed to mass shift in demand from commercial to residential, disrupting distribution chains.
- Stock Market Crash worse than anything since the Great Depression. Oil prices also crash.
- Conspiracy Theories. The American public reacted to the pandemic in stunningly moronic ways. Someof the noteworthy conspiracy trends of 2020:
- Coronavirus is a Chinese bioweapon.
- Masks cause the virus. This one was seemingly endorsed by Louis Ghomert after he contractedthe virus.
- Microchips in masks. Many people believe Bill Gates is deploying tracking devices in masks,using the pandemic as a front.
- 5G wireless networks cause the virus. Cell towers are attacked and vandalized internationally.
- Actual Conspiracies. Trump is impeached early in the year. Several of his associates are indicted, convicted, sentenced or otherwise implicated in a variety of scams and schemes. Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, Goerge Nader, George Papadapoulos, among others. Trump pardons Stone, Papadapoulos, Manafort and Flynn. Trump attempts to retaliate against Cohen.
- Trump Pardons. Trump uses his office to pardon his own criminal associates along with military and police officers who abused their power and authority to injure and murder innocent civilians. Here are some of the pardons (not all of these are from 2020):
- Charles Kushner, Conrad Black, Angela Stanton, friends or public supporters of Trump.
- Chris Collins, Dinesh D'Souza, Margaret Hunter, political allies convicted of financial and/or election fraud.
- Stephanie Mohr, police officer who unleashed her K9 on a defenseless homeless man.
- Gary Brugman, border agent who kicked and battered a seated migrant.
- Clint Lorance, court martial convicted of murdering civilians in Iraq.
- Matthew Golsteyn, summarily executed a prisoner in Iraq.
- Michael Behenna, killed a prisoner in Iraq.
- Nicholas Slatter, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard, Blackwater contractors who massacred civilians in Iraq.
- Abraham Accords signed between UAE, Bahrain, Israel, Sudan, Morocco. Trump later tweets a video of the signing event, showing a Nobel Peace Prize superimposed on the scene. Trump has NOT won the Nobel Prize, but he and his supporters continue insinuating that he did, and that the media is refusing to report it. Trump really wants a Nobel Prize and he or his supporters previously resorted to bribery and fraud to try and nominate him, with one nomination citing his Again, libertarians bewilderingly support this imbecile in spite of his blatantly force-driven ideology.
- Election. Biden wins the US Presidential election by a large margin. Trump nevertheless pushes afantasy of , but produces no evidence. As we close 2020, Trump has not conceded theelection and is calling for his supporters to rally in DC on the day when Congress confirms theoutcome. Meanwhile pro-Trump gangs snarl roads and highways around the nation with pickup-truck parades waving various flags, sometimes blocking lanes, sometimes forcing people off the road, sometimes encircling and intimidating Biden campaigners. The Trump parades wane after the election, hopefully they vanish entirely in 2021. Bewlideringly, many self-described libertarians continue to support Trump in spite of his decidedly authoritarian style of government.
- Census. The Trump administration deliberately interfered with the census process, resulting in atechnical constitutional crisis at the close of 2020.
- Murder Hornets scare everyone for a while.
Significant Events
- January 3 - Iranian General Soleimani assassinated by US drone attack.
- January 4 - Mass protests in Iraq over Soleimani killing.
- January 4 - Australian wildfires, military reserve activated to combat fires.
- January 15 - ERA ratified by Virginia
- January 16 - Trump impeached. The third Senate impeachment trial of a US president in history.
- January 21 - First coronavirus case in the US.
- January 22 - Lockdown in Wuhan begins.
- January 23 - Juan Guaido forcibly blocked from accessing the National Assembly in Venezuela.
- January 28 - Massive locust swarms in east Africa.
- January 31 - Senate votes (49-51) to block any witnesses from being called in Trump's impeachment trial.
- January 31 - First coronavirus task force briefing at the White House.
- February 4 - State of the Union. Trump snubs a handshake from Nancy Pelosi; she rips apart a copy of Trump's speech.
- February 5 - Trump acquitted on two articles of impeachment. Mitt Romney finds Trump guilty of abuse of power; first senator in US history to vote to remove a president from the same party.
- February 6 - First Covid-19 death in the United States.
- February 7 - Retaliation: Trump fires Alexander Vindman (Ukraine expert at NSC), and Gordon Sondland (Ambassador to EU).
- February 11 - Jussie Smollett indicted for making false reports to police that he was a victim of a hate crime.
- February 20 - Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months in prison. He was convicted of lying to Congress and threatening a witness regarding his efforts for Trump's 2016 campaign.
- February 23 - Ahmaud Arbery shot and killed while jogging.
- February 24 - Harvey Weinstein found guilty of criminal sex act and rape, sentenced to 23 years in prison.
- February 26 - Trump puts Pence in charge of the coronavirus response.
- March 11 - Travel ban from Europe; does not restrict imports. Trump says insurance companies will eliminate copays for coronavirus treatments, but later clarifies he meant to say testing.
- March 11 - Sarah Palin is revealed on The Masked Singer, further blurring the distinction between government and entertainment. She sang
- March 13 - Breonna Taylor shot and killed in her home, after police forcibly enter her apartment while executing a late-night, no-knock warrant in a narcotics investigation. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, is also in the apartment and fires one shot at who he believes are intruders. Taylor is shot at least eight times.
- March 16 - Lockdown begins. Trump tells governors they need to find their own hospital supplies and later announces new guidelines limiting public gatherings to no more than 10 people.
- March 18 - US-Canadian border closed. Trade still allowed.
- March 19 - Hydroxychloroquine hyped by Trump for the first time.
- March 24 - Trump announces Easter Deadline for reopening, says more people will die of depression-caused suicide than virus.
- March 25 - $2 trillion stimulus.
- March 26 - Space Force gets a satellite, Atlas 5, placed in orbit by United Launch Alliance.
- March 30 - Congressman Ben McAdams has coronavirus, the first confirmed case in the US Congress.
- March 31 - Dow's worst opening quarter, down 23.2%.
- April 2 - Retaliation: Capt. Brett Crozier, commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, that has been hit by a major outbreak of coronavirus, is relieved of duty for showing days after writing a memo warning Navy leadership that decisive action was needed to save the lives of the ship's crew.
- May 1 - Remdesivir authorized for Covid-19.
- May 1 - Kayleigh McEnany holds her first briefing, the first White House briefing in 417 days.
- May 1 - Joe Biden denies sexual assault charge from 27 years ago.
- May 5 - Retaliation: Dr. Rick Bright, the ousted vaccine director, fired for his hdxq skepticism. Says his early warnings about the coronavirus were ignored.
- May 6 - NYC subways shut down for first time ever.
- May 7 - Gregory and Travis McMichael and his son, 34-year-old Travis McMichael arrested for murdering Ahmaud Arbery.
- May 14 - Sen. Richard Burr (R) investigated for insider trading, quits as chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee; made stock trades before the market downturn.
- May 15 - Retaliation, Twitter firing: Trump fires State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.
- May 22 - Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli plead guilty to conspiracy in college admissions scandal.
- May 25 - George Floyd killed when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin uses his leg to pin Floyd's neck to the ground for nearly nine minutes.
- May 26 - Twitter checks Trump on : highlights two of Trump's tweets that falsely claim mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud, calling the tweets Trump accuses the social media platform of election meddling.
- May 27 - 100,000 coronavirus deaths in US.
- May 29 - BLM DC Protest: Trump bunker.
- May 29 - CNN reporter arrested on live TV: Omar Jimenez is arrested in Minneapolis while giving a live television report about ongoing protests over George Floyd's death. His producer and photojournalist are also arrested, and all three are released approximately an hour later.
- May 30 - SpaceX puts two astronauts on ISS. First commercial human space transport.
- June 2 - Trump tries to move RNC: it will no longer be in Charlotte after the governor insisted on a social distancing and face masks. On July 23, RNC moves back to Charlotte. Tantrum over.
- June 10 - NASCAR bans confederate flag.
- June 12 - Trump tries to eliminate transgender protection from discrimination in health care.
- June 12 - Rayshard Brooks shot and killed at a Wendy's parking lot in Atlanta over a suspected DUI.
- June 15 - The Supreme Court rules (6-3) that federal civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender workers. Chief Justice John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch (who writes the opinion) side with the four liberal justices.
- June 18 - Supreme Court blocks (5-4) Trump's attempt to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
- June 20 - Trump rally in Tulsa, coins the term
- June 20 - Highest ever artic temperature reported, 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Sibera.
- June 26 - Pence holds first White House coronavirus briefing since April 25.
- June 26 - Federal judge rules detained children be released.
- June 29 - Supreme Court blocks (5-4) Louisiana abortion law that would have closed nearly every clinic in the state.
- June 30 - Confederate flag symbol removed from Mississippi state flag.
- July 2 - Ghislaine Maxwell arrested for recruiting, grooming and sexually abusing underage girls. Maxwell attempts to hide inside her house when FBI agents arrive to arrest her.
- July 3 - Mount Rushmore July 4 spectacle.
- July 6 - Supreme Court rules (9-0) states can punish Electors who break voting pledge.
- July 7 - Trump withdraws from WHO, effective July 6, 2021.
- July 8 - Supreme Court allows (7-2) religious objections to ACA contraceptive mandate.
- July 10 - Trump pardons Roger Stone, who was convicted of five counts of lying to Congress, one count of witness tampering and one count of obstructing a congressional committee proceeding.
- July 10 - Postal service scandal: Louis DeJoy memo states new Postal Service procedures, which lead to mail delays across the country. DeJoy reverses course on August 18, saying that all changes being made to the Postal Service would be suspended until after the November 3 election, just as 20 states announced plans to file federal lawsuits, arguing DeJoy was illegally changing mail procedures ahead of the 2020 election as the USPS braces for an unusually high number of mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- July 13 - Redskins change their name and logo.
- July 14 - Trump signs legislation and an executive order imposing sanctions on businesses and individuals that are seen as helping China restrict Hong Kong's autonomy.
- July 15 - Major Twitter hack pulled off by a 17 year old. The hack compromises accounts of Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Kanye West and numerous others as part of a bitcoin transfer scam.
- July 16 - Kemp tries to stop mask mandate. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp sues Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms; withdrawn on August 13.
- July 17 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg cancer relapse.
- July 17 - Rep. John Lewis dies of cancer. Replaced by Nikema Williams.
- July 23 - Retaliation: Michael Cohen released from prison to home confinement after judge finds he was sent back to prison over his book about Trump.
- July 30 - Obama eulogizes John Lewis before the late congressman's body is laid to rest in Atlanta, drawing a comparison between the battles Lewis participated in during the Civil Rights Movement and the current protests for racial justice happening across America.
- July 30 - NASA sends the Perseverance rover and its Ingenuity helicopter into space. Perseverance is scheduled to land at Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021.
- July 30 - NBA retreats to Disney World .
- August 4 - Major explosion in Beirut leads to crises in economic and food security in Lebanon.
- August 8 - Trump signs four executive orders on coronavirus relief, one of which will provide as much as $400 in enhanced unemployment benefits, 25% of which states are being asked to cover, after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a stimulus bill.
- August 9 - Carolina earthquake: 5.1-magnitude earthquake hits Sparta, North Carolina, along the state's border with Virginia; strongest earthquake since 1926.
- August 9 - Belarus election; Lukashenko claims 80% victory, but evidence shows over 60% of the vote went to rival Tsikhanouskaya.
- August 11 - Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate, the first Black woman and South Asian-American woman to run on a major political party's presidential ticket.
- August 12 - Trump interferes with Postal Service, says he opposes much needed funding for the USPS because he doesn't want to see it used for mail-in voting in November.
- August 16-17 - Wildfire: August Complex fire begins in northern California as a series of separate fires sparked by lightning strikes. The fires burned more than a million acres and destroyed 935 structures. It is one of the largest fires in California's recent history, according to Cal Fire.
- August 17 - Virtual DNC.
- August 17 - Wildfire: LNU Complex Fire begins in northern California. It is contained on October 2, after burning 363,220 acres, destroying 1,491 structures, and six deaths.omplex Fire begins in northern California. It is contained on October 2, after burning 363,220 acres, destroying 1,491 structures, and six deaths.
- August 18 - Wildfire: SCU Lighting Complex Fire begins in Northern California. It is contained on October 1, after burning 396,624 acres and destroying over 200 structures.
- August 18 - Wildfire: North Complex Fire begins in Northern California. It is contained on December 3, after burning 318,935 acres, damaging or destroying 2,455 structures, and 16 deaths.
- August 18 - Trump pardons Susan. B. Anthony on the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which guarantees women the right to vote. The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House declines his pardon.
- August 18 - Senate Intelligence Committee releases final Russia report explaining how Russia interfered in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign welcomed their help.
- August 20 - Steve Bannon and three others charged with fraud for fake border wall scheme.
- August 23 - Convalescent plasma authorized for Covid-19.
- August 23 - Kellyanne Conway leaves White House. George Conway leaves The Lincoln Project.
- August 23 - Jacob Blake shot and killed in Wisconsin as he enters his SUV. His three children, ages 3, 5 and 8, are in the car when the shooting takes place.
- August 24 - RNC in Charlotte.
- August 24 - TikTok sues Trump administration over executive order that seeks to ban the short-form video app from the United States.
- August 25 - Trump appoints Chad Wolf (illegally) as permanent HomeSec Secretary.
- August 26 - Kyle Rittenhouse arrested for murder at Wisconsin protest.
- August 26 - Following Jacob Blake's shooting by Kenosha, Wisconsin police, the Milwaukee Bucks announce they will be boycotting their playoff game. Soon after, the NBA announces it will postpone Game 5 of three different playoff series. Multiple WNBA, MLS and MLB games are also called off.
- August 27 - Hurricane Season: Laura makes landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, killing at least 30 people.
- August 28 - Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) dies of cancer.
- August 28 - Fifty-seven years to the day Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech, thousands gather on the National Mall, including relatives of African Americans killed or injured in recent police encounters, to call for social and political change.
- August 29 - Portland protests: One person killed in clashes between Trump supporters and protesters denouncing police brutality.
- September 1 - Trump visits Kenosha, Wisconsin, to support cops following the protests over Jacob Blake's shooting by police.
- September 2 - Trump encourages voter fraud, tells people in North Carolina to vote twice in the November general election, once by mail and once in person, to double check that their initial vote was counted. That would be a felony, Americans can only vote once per election.
- September 3 - Biden visits Kenosha, Wisconsin, While there, they also visit with Jacob Blake's family.
- September 3 - Seven Rochester police officers suspended over the death of Daniel Prude (in March). Prude was a Black man who was pinned down to the ground with a placed over his head and later died.
- September 4 - Wildfire: Creek Fire begins in Central California. It is one of the six largest fires in California's recent history.
- September 9 - Trump admits he knew the coronavirus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward in his new book
- September 15 - Louisville agrees to pay $12 million to Breonna Taylor's family.
- September 16 - Hurricane Season: Sally strengthens to a category 2 before making landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama.
- September 18 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer.
- September 22 - 200,000 coronavirus deaths in US.
- September 26 - Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to succeed Ginsburg on the US Supreme Court.
- September 27 - NYT: Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000 because he reported losing significantly more than he made.
- September 29 - Ginsburg the first woman to lie in state in the US Capitol.
- September 29 - First presidential debate (shitshow) at Case Western Reserve.
- September 30 - The Commission on Presidential Debates announces it will be making changes to the format of the remaining presidential debates after the first debate between Biden and Trump devolved into a chaotic disaster.
- October 2 - Trumps have coronavirus. Announced via Twitter. Trump taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
- October 5 - Trump is released from Walter Reed and returns to the White House.
- October 6 - Van Halen dies of cancer.
- October 6 - Trump halts stimulus negotiations. Announced via Twitter.
- October 7 - VP debate at University of Utah. Most memorable thing is a fly stuck on Pence's head.
- October 8 - Plot to kidnap the Michigan Governor: Thirteen people charged.
- October 9 - Second presidential debate canceled after Trump declines to do a virtual debate despite concerns over his Covid-19 diagnosis.
- October 9 - Hurricane Season: Delta makes landfall near Creole, Louisiana. At least four people are reported to have died.
- October 15 - Trump and Biden hold two simultaneous town halls on different networks, NBC and ABC.
- October 19 - The Commission on Presidential Debates announces Biden and Trump will have their microphones muted during portions of the second and final presidential debate.
- October 20 - Trump administration sues Google (anti-trust) in the largest antitrust case against a tech company in more than two decades. In its complaint, the Justice Department makes sweeping allegations that Google has stifled competition to maintain its powerful position in the marketplace for online search and search advertising.
- October 20 - NYT: Trump maintains a Chinese bank account.
- October 20 - NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft successfully touches down on asteroid Bennu and collects a sample from the asteroid's surface. The sample will be returned to Earth in 2023.
- October 21 - Purdue Pharma pleads guilty, for its role in creating the nation's opioid crisis and will pay more than $8 billion and close down the company.
- October 22 - Second presidential debate between Trump and Biden takes place at Belmont University.
- October 22 - Remdesivir approved for coronavirus, the first drug approved for treating Covid-19.
- October 26 - Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to Supreme Court. Susan Collins the only GOP senator to vote against.
- October 26 - Walter Wallace shot and killed by police in West Philadelphia. His family says he suffered from bipolar disorder and was in crisis during the time of the shooting.
- October 28 - Miles Taylor reveals he is the anonymous Trump administration official who wrote a 2018 New York Times op-ed and a subsequent book critical of Trump.
- November 7 - Biden wins election, Trump refuses to concede, insists on unsubstantiated theory of .
- November 8 - Alex Trebeck dies of cancer.
- November 9 - Pfizer announces 90% effective vaccine.
- November 9 - Retaliation: Trump fires Sec Def Esper via Twitter. Christopher Miller will become acting secretary
- November 15 - SpaceX puts four astronauts into outer space. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut with Japan's space agency, dock with the ISS on November 16.
- November 16 - Moderna announces its coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective.
- November 17 - Retaliation: Trump fires Cybersec Dir Chris Krebs via Twitter, and directly ties it to Krebs' statement that said there
- November 18 - The Federal Aviation Administration issues an order that paves the way for the Boeing 737 Max to carry passengers again, ending the jet's 20-month grounding. The planes were originally grounded in March 2019 after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
- November 20 - Pfizer and BioNTech request emergency use authorization for vaccine. This is the first coronavirus vaccine to seek regulatory clearance in the United States.
- November 23 - GSA informs Joe Biden that the Trump administration is ready to begin the formal transition process. The letter is the first step the administration has taken to acknowledge Trump's defeat, more than two weeks after Biden was declared the winner in the election.
- November 25 - Trump pardons Michael Flynn, who plead guilty to lying to the FBI.
- December 1 - The CDC's vaccine advisers vote 13-1 to recommend that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities be the first in line for any coronavirus vaccines that get emergency authorization from the FDA.
- December 11 - FDA authorizes the first Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in the US. The Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has been found to be 95% effective. On December 12 the CDC advisory panel votes to recommend the vaccine for people 16 and older. Pfizer begins shipping its coronavirus vaccine to the states and territories on December 13.
- December 24 - Wisconsin pharmacist sabotages several hundred doses of the Moderna vaccine, motive unclear.
- December 25 - Christmas bombing in Nashville at AT&T facility. 63yo Anthony Warner identified as bomber, motive unclear.
#2020 #
coronavirus #
covid19 #
apocalypse
