Photo Credit: USA Today Network
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Thankfully, 2020, is nearing its painful end.
Americans were shocked to their core when they learned that Hall of Fame NBA player Kobe Bryant on Sunday, January 26, was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, while in route from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport. Nine people were on board: retired professional basketball player Kobe Bryant, his 13 year-old daughter Gianna, baseball coach John Altobelli, five other passengers, and the pilot. No one survived the crash
The Kobe Bryant tragedy was truly a foretaste of what a horrible year it would be.
Worldwide, a respiratory tract infection struck like a horrifying tidal wave.
On January 20th, a 35-year-old man returning from China contracted the first case of Coronavirus.
On March 13, President Trump declared coronavirus a national emergency; and on April 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended everyone to consider wearing a cloth or fabric face masks in public.
How deadly was coronavirus?
In the United States, there were 319,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of December 21. Worldwide, there have been 1.7 million deaths from the coronavirus.
COVID-19 surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC. Practically the same number of Americans died from the disease each day as did the number killed in the September 11 terror attacks or the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Small wonder, then, that 2020 was declared the Year of the Nurse and Midwife by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In practical terms, 2020 was a year that never was.
Most celebrated events and annual rituals were cancelled due to the virus, which included the Tokyo Games (Summer Olympics), the Wimbledon tennis tournament, NASCAR racing, the NCAA men and women’s Division I basketball tournaments, and St Patrick’s Day parades in both Dublin, Ireland and Boston. In addition, most museums slammed their doors shut, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, while the Cannes Film Festival, and the Rolling Stones North American tour were abruptly cancelled.
Both the NBA and MLB postponed their seasons and returned with reduced schedules.
On October 11, the Lakers defeated the Miami Heat to capture a record-tying 17th NBA title ; and on Oct. 27 in MLB, The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to win the team’s first World Series title since 1988.
The economic impact due to the coronavirus was crippling. The United States slipped into a recession, the largest economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Not surprisingly, President Donald Trump dominated most of the news cycle and Twitter posts during 2020, never more so than during his impeachment trial that began on January 16 and ended on February 5, when he was acquitted on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress . Trump was accused of pressuring Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations into former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr in exchange for nearly $400 million in vital military assistance.
The year ended with Trump losing in his quest for a second presidential term. On November 3, Democrat Joe Biden, 77, with 306 electoral votes defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States. Barack Obama’s VP received more than 78 million votes across the country — the most votes cast for any presidential candidate in history.
2020 didn’t pass without major racial strife.
On May 25, a Minneapolis police officer (Derek Chauvin) was filmed pressing his knee on the neck of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American male, for more than eight minutes, killing him, as three other officers stood by.
Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter; the Minnesota attorney general increased the charge to second-degree murder on June 3. Charges against three other fired officers were also filed.
The unconscionable act by the Minneapolis police officer sparked protests across 100 cities around the world. Other demonstrations were held on June 6 to voice protests against systemic racism and police brutality.
Despite the historic recession and rising unemployment from COVID-19, there were a few, those happy few, doing extremely well financially.
In August, Forbes Magazine reported that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became the first person in history to have a net worth exceeding $200 billion. During the same month, Apple Inc., the multinational technology company, became the first U.S. company to be valued at over $2 trillion.
The year ended on an especially sad note when longtime Jeopardy host, Alex Trebek, 80, died on November 8, following his long battle with pancreatic cancer.
On December 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, providing a glimmer of hope that the deadly virus will be eliminated in the months ahead.
To get a sense of what major stories sparked the interest of readers during the year, I asked some news organizations and popular websites which story drew the most traffic.
What follows is a collection of the most viewed online articles in 2020.
CNN
Tracking Covid-19 Cases in the U.S.
Election 2020 Presidential Results
L.A. Times
Federal Investigators Look for Answers in Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash.
Tampa Bay Times
Tom Brady arriving in Tampa Bay and staying at Derek Jeter’s mansion
Florida coronavirus cases are growing fast. Here’s what that means.
The Telegraph (U.K.)
Financial Times
The Economist
FOX NEWS
Coronavirus in the US: State-by-state breakdown
AXIOS
Scoop: Trump’s Plan to Declare Premature Victory
Politico
Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently: Here’s How
Buzzfeed
Non-Americans Are Sharing the Bizarre Things that Americans Think are Normal and It’s Surprising
The Marshall Project
The Short, Fraught History of the ‘Thin Blue Line’ American Flag
ProPublica
A Medical Worker Describes Terrifying Lung Failure From COVID-19 — Even in His Young Patients
Tracking PPP Loans: Search Every Company Approved for Federal Loans Over $150k
OpenSecrets.org
Senate Intel chair unloaded stocks in mid-February before coronavirus rocked markets
FBI
FBI Seeking Assistance Connecting Victims to Samuel Little’s Confessions
Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
New Yorker
New York Magazine
Buying Myself Back: When Does a Model Own Her Own Image
How the Coronavirus Could Take Over Your Body (Before You Ever Feel It)
New York Review of Books
The Sickness in Our Food Supply
ESPN
Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna die in helicopter crash
Weather Channel
Aerial View of Devastation Along Louisiana’s Coast from Hurricane Laura
Watch Man in Russia Cheat Death
--Bill Lucey
December 21, 2020
Bill: good work. The disparity if fascinating -- Kobe in LA and ESPN, a cabinet minister breaking pandemic rules with "married lover," -- the conservative Telegraph
Ultimately, Pandemic and Trump. I confuse them, sometimes.
Happy New Year
GV
Posted by: George Vecsey | 01/05/2021 at 11:18 AM