Over and Done: 2021

Last year's year-end roundup featured what we could call the "passim" list: a list of events that repeated themselves so frequently throughout the year that it would have been impossible to list every occurrence separately.  2021 features a particular kind of event that recurred very frequently throughout the year, but which, due to its failure to fit into The Narrative, one has to do a certain amount of digging to find.  This is the various forms of pushback against the "build-back-better" tyranny sought to be imposed from on high.  Even more difficult to find are stories about successful pushback, where government entities and their crony capitalist toadies back down in the face of opposition, or are smacked down in the courts.  When such stories are not spiked, they are given sneering coverage by the oligarch's media division, held up as examples of gross irresponsibility in the face of a deadly disease, or of why we can't get back to normal, or watered down for the demoralization of the ordinary citizenry, lest they get the idea that they are not alone in thinking what they think, and that they can make a difference.  These events I have sought to find and list here, albeit not exhaustively, for the edification of those who do not like where things are headed.  The reality is that we are not alone, even humanly speaking.  (And, by the way, all of this illustrates that isolation is a big strategy of our enemies, and that is why the freedom of peaceable assembly, which our owners have shamelessly infringed over the last two years, is a constitutionally-guaranteed right.)

As always, I have used Wikipedia as a starting point for the refreshment of my recollection (excluding covid pushback stories, which are scarcely to be found in Wikipedia's current events roundup), and focused those items which were of particular note to me.  

January

1: More rioting breaks out in Portland.  Also: Large demonstrations take place in London to protest coronavirus lockdowns and shutdowns.

3: An anti-mask protest is held in a major shopping center in New South Wales, Australia.

6: The so-called “storming” of the Capitol building in Washington, in which Capitol police can be seen on video admitting protesters into the building.  The net effect is the prevention of evidence of election fraud being put before Congress, which is opposite to the interests of Donald Trump and his supporters. Also: by shutting down a sitting President’s account, Twitter proves the need for social media platforms to be treated and regulated like utilities. Widespread censorship of conservative voices on social media follows.

7: The Electoral College certifies Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.  

9: Parler, an alternative social media platform, is taken offline based on alleged incitement to violence.

11: Beginning of second set of sham impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.

13: Pope Francis admits women to the ministries of lector and acolyte.

15: Tens of thousands of restaurant owners in Italy coordinate to open up shop, in defiance of draconian lockdown measures.  Police who come to shut the restaurants down are driven out by customers refusing to leave and shouting, "Get out! Get out! Our taxes pay your salaries! You work for us!"

18: Germany announces the repurposing of refugee camps to serve as concentration camps for violators of quarantine rules, proving that none of the lessons of World War II took.

22: Legal recreational weed goes on sale in Arizona.

25: The U.S. Supreme Court denies certiorari on a case out of Nevada about religious freedom versus coronavirus restrictions.  Also: protests break out in ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhoods across Israel over that country's coronavirus restrictions, with police trying to break up religious and educational gatherings being held in violation of lockdown rules.  Also: demonstrations against mandatory vaccinations take place in Kokshetau, Kazakhstan.

29: The parliament of Catholic Portugal votes to legalize euthanasia.

Deaths: Gerry Marsden (Gerry and the Pacemakers); Tanya Roberts; Gregory Sierra; Tommy Lasorda; Phil Spector; Don Sutton; Hank Aaron; Hal Holbrook; Larry King; Bruce Kirby; Cloris Leachman.

February

9: Farcical second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins, even though he has left office.

10: Statues are vandalized at St. Pius X Catholic Church in El Paso, Texas.  Also: Protests break out all over Greece over legislation allowing a police presence on Greek university campuses, which has been illegal since the 1980s.  Protesters allege that the government is using the coronavirus as an excuse to implement authoritarianism.  Also: Ultra-orthodox Jewish protesters clash with police in Jerusalem over lockdowns.

12: Anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, Australia.

13: Beginning of winter storm that causes 23 deaths and power outages for millions across the U.S.

18: Perseverance lands on Mars.

19: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are stripped of their patronages and honorable military titles on account of their being a couple of pills.

22: Australia Open fans in Melbourne boo a tennis official who took the occasion of an awards ceremony to praise the coronavirus vaccine as a "sign of optimism."  Fans also booed an official who praised Victoria state government authorities.

27: Anti-lockdown protests in Dublin, Ireland, during which police clash with demonstrators, leading to three injured police and 23 arrests.

28: Several thousands of Hungarians gather in Budapest to protest coronavirus lockdowns.

Deaths: Rush Limbaugh; Christopher Plummer; George Schulz; Larry Flynt; Ion Pacepa.

March

2: Eruption of Mount Sinabung in Sumatra, Indonesia.

3: Greece is struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Thessaly.

6: Several hundreds protest coronavirus lockdowns in Cork, Ireland.

13: George Floyd's family settles with the City of Minneapolis for $27 million.  Also: Thousands demonstrate in several cities in Germany against coronavirus restrictions.

15: The Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rules that priests cannot bless same-sex "marriages."  Also: Portugal's Constitutional Court rejects as unconstitutional the bill purporting to legalize euthanasia.

16: Utah bars state agencies from mandating vaccination as a condition of employment, with certain exceptions.

19: Volcanic eruption in southwestern Iceland.

20: A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes Japan off the coast of Miyagi prefecture, setting off a three-foot tsunami wave.  Also: More than 20,000 protesters demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions in Kassel, Germany.  Also: About 30,000 people march through London to protest coronavirus restrictions.

22: Nine civilians and one police officer are killed in a mass shooting at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

23: The Panamanian-flagged container ship Ever Given runs aground north of the Suez Port, blocking the Suez Canal at both ends for the next six days.

24: The commonwealth of Virginia abolishes capital punishment.  Also: About 10,000 demonstrators march through London to protest coronavirus restrictions.

28: 20 are wounded in a double suicide bombing outside the Sacred Heart Catholic cathedral in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Deaths: Vernon Jordan; Roger Mudd; Marvelous Marvin Hagler; May Wynn; George Segal; Jessica Walter; Beverly Cleary; G. Gordon Liddy.

April

2: Florida bars businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination or natural immunity and imposes fines on businesses and government entities that do.

3:  More than 20,000 protesters rally in Stuttgart, Germany against coronavirus restrictions.  Also: Protestant pastor Artur Kawlowski of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, throws the police out of his church, calling them Nazis, Gestapo and communists, when they came to do a "covid check" of his congregation during Easter services.

9: Eruption of La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, necessitating the evacuation of 16,000 people.

10: A magnitude 6.0-6.1 earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia.

11: Several hundred protesters demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

12: Riots begin over the killing of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, when Wright resisted police and was fatally shot by an officer who had intended to tase him.

13: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is suspended due to concerns over blood clots.

15: Mass murder of seven and wounding of eight at a Fedex facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, by a shooter who then turned the gun on himself.

17: Demonstrators protest coronavirus lockdowns in Hamilton and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

19: Arizona bans, by executive order, inquiries into vaccine status as a condition of admission, except in health care facilities.  Also: The NASA helicopter Ingenuity successfully flies over the surface of Mars.

20: A jury convicts former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of all counts in the death of George Floyd.

21: Thousands of coronavirus-restriction protesters rally in Berlin, defying government efforts to stop the demonstration.

28: Arkansas passes a law barring state and local governments from requiring employees to get vaccinated as a condition of employment or career advancement.

29: Indiana passes a law prohibiting state or local government to demand proof of vaccination from anyone, including employees.

Deaths: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Lee Aaker; April the Giraffe; Gloria Henry; Hans Küng; Ramsey Clark; Judith Reisman; Bernie Madoff; Walter Mondale; Michael Collins (Apollo 11 astronaut); Johnny Crawford (The Rifleman).

May

1: Thousands of demonstrators march in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to protest coronavirus restrictions, specifically an 8 p.m. curfew that they argued bears no rational relationship to the prevention of disease. 

7: The state of Montana prohibits discrimination based on vaccination status, and bars mandates of vaccines being administered under emergency use authorizations or that are in safety trials.  Also: North Dakota prohibits state government from requiring private businesses to procure documentation to verify vaccine status.

9: 6 are killed at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, Colorado, by a gunman who then kills himself.

19: Five eastern Oregon counties pass measures to promote the movement to secede from Oregon and join Idaho.

20: Alleged President Joe Biden signs the "Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act."

25: The state of Georgia bans proof of vaccination as a condition of employment with the state, doing business with the state or otherwise enjoying any rights provided in the state.  Also: Tennessee prohibits state and local government from imposing vaccine mandates.

28: Anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, Australia.  Also: Oklahoma prohibits state agencies from implementing vaccine passports for entry into public buildings, except for employees in patient-facing settings.

29: Gigantic march through London, from Parliament Square to Acton, apparently involving hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, to protest coronavirus restrictions.

Deaths: Olympia Dukakis; Bobby Unser; Pete du Pont; Charles Grodin; Sr. Margherita Marchione; Gavin McLeod; Gwen Shamblin Lara; B.J. Thomas.

June

9: Hungarian soccer fans roundly and loudly boo the Irish team for taking a knee before the start of a warm-up game in Budapest.

15: Hungary passes a law banning the dissemination to minors of content depicting homosexuality or transgenderism.

17: Juneteenth becomes a national holiday -- too late, however, for the holiday to be taken this year.  Also: Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who brandished guns to defend their home against a mob in St. Louis, sign off on a misdemeanor deal that involves them forfeiting their guns.

20: Tropical Storm Claudette claims 13 lives in Alabama.

24: Collapse of a 12-story condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, resulting in 5 deaths and 159 missing.

25: Derek Chauvin is sentenced to 22 1/2 years in the death of George Floyd.

26: Thousands of demonstrators march through London to 10 Downing Street to protest coronavirus restrictions.

28: Police in Hong Kong ban a vigil to mark the anniversary of Britain turning the territory over to the Chicoms.

30: Bill Cosby gets sprung from prison after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns his conviction.

Deaths: F. Lee Bailey; Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad); Larry Gelman; Ned Beatty; Donald Rumsfeld.

July

1: The discovery of mass graves of Indian children in Canada becomes the excuse to tear down statutes of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and burn down Catholic Churches.  Also: Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer tries to bribe people into taking vaccines by raffling off millions in cash and college scholarships.

3: Giovanni Cardinal Becciu is indicted on various financial corruption charges out of the Vatican, along with 9 others.

6: Demonstrations against vaccine mandates take place in Kazakhstan.

8: Announcement of what will turn out to be the disastrous, precipitous and humiliating withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan that will leave many Americans stranded.  Also: A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes south of Lake Tahoe.

10: A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes Rasht, Tajikistan.

12: French President Emannuel Macron announces vaccine passports as a requirement to participate in French society, touching off months of nationwide protests.

13: Beginning of the California Dixie Fire.

16: Pope Francis promulgates the brutal, nasty, ultra vires and entirely vain motu proprio Traditiones custodes, which purports to suppress the Mass of tradition.

17: More demonstrations in Kazakhstan against coronavirus regulations.

19: Large demonstration in London against vaccines and lockdowns.

22: Prime Minister Mario Draghi announces vaccine passports in Italy, touching off large protests in Rome, Naples, Milan, Turin and Genoa.  

23: Protesters gather around the home of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Ra'anana after Bennett lashes out against the unvaccinated.

24: More than 10,000 protesters demonstrate in Dublin, Ireland against vaccine passports.  Also: large demonstrations in cities across England, including London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, to protest vaccine mandates and passports.

31: Malaysians take to the streets in Kuala Lumpur, in defiance of bans on public gatherings, to protest the government's coronavirus policies.

Deaths: Charlie Robinson ("Mac" on Night Court); Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff; Jackie Mason; Ron Popiel; Paul Cotton (guitarist, Poco).

August

1: Thousands of anti-coronavirus restriction protesters take to the streets in Berlin.

3: Bill DeBlasio announces vaccination requirements for indoor dining, public performances and gyms in New York City.

5: Anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, Australia.

9: Announcement of vaccination requirement for members of the U.S. armed forces.  Also: France requires a health pass to participate in society.  Also: hundreds of protesters storm Television Centre in London to protest BBC's pro-vaccine coverage of the pandemic.  Much is made of the fact that the protesters were in the wrong place as the BBC's headquarters moved out of the building in 2013.

10: Andrew Cuomo announces his resignation as Governor of New York amid an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations.

12: The mayor of San Francisco announces a vaccine requirement to be present in all indoor public spaces.

13: The U.S. Secretary of Education tries to undermine the state government of Texas by offering financial assistance to Texas schools that defy the governor's ban on mask mandates.

15: Kabul falls to the Taliban.

18: Anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, Australia.

23: Large covid restriction protests take place in major cities across Australia.

24: Kathy Hochul is sworn in as the new Governor of New York and turns out to be even a bigger nut job than Andrew Cuomo.

28-29: Several thousands march in Berlin and clash with police to protest coronavirus measures.

30: Truck drivers in Queensland, Australia stage a protest against vaccine mandates and lockdowns.

31: 79 anti-lockdown protests take place across New South Wales, Australia.

Deaths: Markie Post; Jane Withers; Una Stubbs (Mrs. Hudson in Sherlock); Don Everly (the Everly Brothers); Charlie Watts; Ed Asner; Michael Constantine.

September

1: Demonstrators gather to protest in various cities in Ontario, Canada, after that province announces a vaccine certification system to take effect later in the month.

3: Theodore McCarrick pleads not guilty to charges connected with the sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy in 1974.

9: Ten months after having promised that there would be no vaccine mandates, Joe Biden announces sweeping, draconian and unconstitutional vaccine mandates.

13: President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany is heckled at a school in Berlin over the government's campaign to vaccinate children against the coronavirus.

14: The nephew of Nancy Pelosi beats the California gubernatorial recall.

19: Beginning of the catastrophic eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, La Palma, Canary Islands.  Also: the remains of Gabby Petito are found in Wyoming.

20: Vatican City announces health pass mandates within its borders.  Also: Beginning of several days of anti-corona-measures protests in Melbourne, Australia.

21: San Francisco International Airport becomes the first airport in the nation to mandate vaccinations.

22: A magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes Alpine National Park in Victoria, Australia.  Also: a magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes off the coast of Nicaragua.

Deaths: Adlai Stevenson III; Fran Bennett; John Shelby Spong; Norm MacDonald; Shaaron Claridge (voice of dispatcher on Adam-12 and real LAPD dispatcher); Robert Fyfe (Last of the Summer Wine); Jane Powell; Tim Donnelly (Chet Kelly on Emergency!); David de Patie; Tommy Kirk.

October

1: The governor of California announces vaccine mandates for all school students in the state.

9-10: Southwest Airlines pilot sick-out over vaccine mandates.  The airline ludicrously claims the cancellations are due to weather conditions that somehow did not affect other airlines.  Also: The opening of the preposterously-named "Synod on Synodality."  Also: About 10,000 people gather in Rome to protest vaccine mandates.

11: Governor Abbott of Texas signs an executive order prohibiting both public and private vaccine mandates within the state of Texas.

12: A federal district court imposes a temporary restraining order on United Airlines' vaccine mandate.

13: Reuters reports that 415 Japanese schoolchildren committed suicide during school lockdowns in that country last year.  Also: William Shatner becomes the oldest person in space at the age of 90.

14: Health officials for the city of San Francisco, where the homeless use public sidewalks as outdoor toilets with impunity, shut down an In-N-Out Burger restaurant for refusing to enforce the city's vaccine requirements.

15: David Amess, a member of England's parliament, is stabbed to death during a meeting with constituents.  Police deliberately prevent a Catholic priest from administering Extreme Unction to Mr. Amess.

16: Thousands gather to protest mandatory vaccinations in Perth, Australia.

18: Italian police in Trieste violently break a dockworker strike over vaccine mandates.  Green-pass protesters gathered in the city's Piazza Unita d'Italia expose the fake government webcam live-stream of the piazza, which shows the piazza as being nearly empty, whereas in fact hundreds are gathered there.

19: Southwest Airlines scraps its plan to put unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave.

20: The remains of Brian Laundrie, suspected in the murder of Gabby Petito, are found in Florida.

21: Alec Baldwin fires a loaded gun on a movie set, killing a cinematographer and wounding the director.

26: Mass shooting at the Boise Towne Square Mall in Boise, Idaho: two are killed, three others, including a police officer, are wounded; the shooter is shot and later dies of his wounds.  Also: New York City's police union sues to halt a proposed vaccine mandate.

28: New York City firefighters rally outside Gracie Mansion to protest vaccine mandates.

30-31: American Airlines vaccine-mandate sickout leads to the cancellation of about 2,000 flights, which is again ludicrously blamed on weather.  Also: Fr. James Jackson, FSSP is arrested on child porn charges.  Also: A huge deal is made out of the fact that White House Press Secretary Jen "Circle-Back" Psaki has tested positive for the 'rona.

Deaths: Mort Sahl; Peter Scolari; Val Bisoglio; Colin Powell; Betty Lynn (Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show); Joanna Cameron; Madame Nguyen Van Thieu.

November

1: A judge blocks Chicago's police department vaccine mandate.

2: Glenn Youngkin beats Terry McAuliffe in Virginia's bellwether gubernatorial election.  Also: Edward Durr, a furniture-company truck driver who spent only $153.00 on his campaign, unseats New Jersey's entrenched Democrat state senate president.

5: The Astroworld Festival crowd crush in Houston, Texas results in the deaths of 10 people.

8: Thousands of Los Angelinos gather outside City Hall to protest the city's tyrannical vaccine mandates.

14: Formerly Catholic Austria goes full-tilt-communist with its nationwide lockdown of the unvaccinated.

15: Biden signs a $1.2 trillion "infrastructure" bill into law.

16: The Biden Administration announces the suspension of its wildly unconstitutional vaccine mandate after the Fifth Circuit strikes it down; however, it advises employers to enforce the mandate anyway.  Also: The discovery is announced of a new moon of Saturn, which is given the unromantic designation of S/2019 S 1.

19: The Chancellor of Austria rewards the people who gave in to pressure to get vaccinated by announcing a lockdown of everybody anyway, to begin on November 22.  Also: several days of protests break out in the Netherlands over coronavirus measures.  Also: Kyle Rittenhouse, who manifestly acted in self-defense, is acquitted by a jury on all counts.

20: Protests of Australia's proposed pandemic bill take place in major cities all over the country, drawing tens of thousands of demonstrators. Also: Tens of thousands take to the streets in Vienna, to protest the latest Austrian lockdowns.

21: A leftist terrorist in an SUV deliberately plows through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six and injuring 62.  Also: Tens of thousands of Belgians take to the streets in Brussels to protest coronavirus restrictions aimed at the unvaxxed.

24: The defendants on trial for the killing in February of 2020 of Ahmaud Arbery are convicted.

25: A fire in a coal mine in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, traps 285 miners, killing 46 miners and five rescuers.

26: The World Health Organization officially kicks off the panic over the alleged "Omicron Variant."  Also: France suspends its proposed vaccine mandate for health care workers in Martinique and Guadeloupe in response to protests in those Caribbean territories.  

30: Mass school shooting in Oxford Township, Michigan, killing four students and injuring eight, including one teacher.  The shooter, Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old sophomore, is taken into custody.

Deaths: Robert Bly; Art La Fleur; Graeme Edge (the Moody Blues); F.W. de Klerk; Dean Stockwell; Peter Aykroyd; Ronnie Wilson (the Gap Band); Stephen Sondheim; Arlene Dahl.

December

1: Dobbs v. Jackson, a case out of Mississippi that challenges Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, comes on for oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

3: The parents of Ethan Crumbley are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter on the theory that they bear part of the responsibility for their son's mass shooting of schoolmates in Oxford Township, Michigan on November 30th.

4: Beginning of a weekend of major uprisings throughout Europe and elsewhere, particularly Argentina and Australia, to protest vaccine mandates and other covid measures.  Also: Beginning of an eruption of Mount Semeru, East Java, Indonesia, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.

6: Outgoing New York City mayor Bill De Blasio announces a citywide vaccine mandate for all private-sector employees, to take effect on December 27th.

9: The government of Austria mandates vaccinations for the entire population ages 14 and up, starting in February, with quarterly fines of 3,600 Euros for those who do not comply.  Also: the government of New Zealand announces that, starting in 2025, it will increase by one year every year the legal age at which tobacco can be purchased.  Also: Jussie Smollett is convicted of five felony counts for his ludicrously fraudulent 2019 hate crime hoax in Chicago that involved multiple law enforcement agencies and risked stoking the fires of civil unrest.

10: An outbreak of multiple tornadoes strikes the central United States overnight, leaving devastation over a 200-mile line through five states, with dozens of fatalities, mostly in Kentucky.

11: An estimated 44,000 Viennese take to the streets to protest Austria's draconian lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

14: Amtrak suspends its employee vaccine mandate, which was to have taken effect in January. 

16: Thousands march in Wellington New Zealand to protest coronavirus lockdowns and vaxx mandates that persist despite 90% of the population being vaxxed..

17: Boeing suspends its vaccine mandate for all U.S. employees, citing the successful challenges in the courts to the Biden vaccine mandates for all federal contractors.

18: Pope Francis lands another 16-ton weight on traditional Catholics via a document "clarifying" Traditiones custodes and imposing further restrictions on the traditional Mass and Sacraments.  Also: Londoners stage a gigantic covid protest amid government suggestions that more lockdowns are in the offing.  Also: citizens of Barcelona, Spain, take to the streets to protest vaccine passports.

19: Hamburg mayor Peter Tschentscher, a medical doctor, is caught having vastly inflating the percentage of unvaccinated persons with covid by including among the "unvaccinated" persons whose vaxx status is unknown; these lies were used to justify draconian restrictions. Tens of thousands of Germans take to the streets in Hamburg for a day and a night to protest these restrictions.  Also: Thousands march in Brussels to protest vaccine mandates.  

27: Blase Cardinal Cupich comes out with even more draconian and tyrannical restrictions on the traditional Mass in the Archdiocese of Chicago.  Also: Britain's health secretary announces there will be no new virus restrictions in England before the first of the year.

28: Joe Biden admits that there is no federal solution to the coronavirus.

29: Ghislaine Maxwell, girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is convicted on five out of six counts of sex trafficking.

30: Grass fires break out in Boulder County, Colorado, destroying hundreds of homes and prompting the evacuation of several towns.

Deaths: Bob Dole; Michael Nesmith (The Monkees); Al Unser; Anne Rice; Bridget Hanley; Joan Didion; Desmond Tutu; Sarah Weddington (argued Roe v. Wade in front of the Supreme Court in favor of legalizing abortion); John Madden; "Dingy" Harry Reid, Betty White.

I hope and pray 2022 turns out to be a better year.