Technically, the title milestone will occur at midnight, but the last day of the year 2022 has arrived. In making the last few year-end posts, I've invoked the phrases "interesting times" and more recently, "hold my beer". I'd say that 2022 certainly deserved to have its beer held.
In what might be the most significant and largely unexpected event of the year, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which sends the issue of abortion back to the states and their legislatures. This, of course, by no means resolves abortion as an issue.
This past February, Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, the invasion still going on today. Unlike Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and its war against Georgia in 2008, this campaign did not result in a swift victory. Western countries such as the United States have poured a lot of aid into Ukraine, some of which has brought consternation from various U.S. congresscritters.
Inflation in the U.S. continued to increase from its rate in 2021, reaching just over 9 percent this June before decreasing to just over 7 percent in September. One reason was gasoline prices, whose average hit a record $5.02 per gallon in June, but has since then fallen to just over $3.00 per gallon. Some of this was the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its effect on oil prices, but gas prices had already started rising before the invasion.
The Republicans, as they are often said to do, managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the midterm elections, except for winning control of the House of Representatives.
Despite previously calling the coronavirus pandemic as a "pandemic of the unvaccinated", vaccinated and boosted President Biden still tested positive for the virus in July. Meanwhile, a disease called monkeypox broke out, but later subsided. The World Health Organization eventually decided to rename it to MPOX, allegedly to avoid racist stereotypes.
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk bought the company Twitter for $44 billion, calling himself the "Chief Twit" and changing some of the rules under which some accounts were suspended. Using a poll to guide his decision, he reinstated the previously suspended account of former President Trump, who so far has declined to resume posting there. According to revelations called the "Twitter Files", Trump did not violate any of its policies.
Of course, the above items are just a few of the notable events of 2022. Other things happened in various parts of the world.
As with any year, 2022 included the deaths of many notable people. Perhaps the most notable of all was the U.K.'s Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in her country's history. Among many who deserve to be mentioned are actor Sidney Poitier, drummer Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters, singer known as Meat Loaf, diplomat Madeleine Albright, basketball star Bob Lanier, singer Jim Seals of Seals & Crofts, actress Angela Lansbury, businesswoman Ivana Trump, country singer Loretta Lynn, rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, actress Kirstie Alley, and singer Irene Cara. There is an old saying that celebrity deaths sometimes occur in threes, which appears to have taken place in the last few days with the deaths of soccer star Pelé, journalist Barbara Walters, and retired Pope Benedict XVI. Another group of celebrities I regard as a trio, even though the third one died months after the first two, are singers Olivia Newton-John, Judith Durham of the Seekers, and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac.
On a personal note for the year, for the first time since 2017, I flew on airplanes, sometimes accompanied by obligatory groups from the TSA, as you could sometimes expect. I got to travel to Tennessee, Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, and even some previously unexplored parts of Virginia.
Now that my summary of events in the old year is concluded, I hope that everyone who reads this blog has a happy new year. The way things have gone in recent years, you might want to keep on holding those beers.
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