To put the coming year into perspective — and to understand why so many are eager to flee the last one — peering back over the shoulder at the social, political, cultural, and general malarkey (to borrow a phrase) and wreckage over the 2023 calendar can be an engaging and sobering enterprise.
Here are more of the notable newsworthy distractions, the political curiosities, and the meandering media offerings from the second half of last year. (Here is Part 1 of this calendar retrospective).
JULY
The Biden administration (the one that promised to usher in class and decency) has become the first to have a bag of cocaine found in the White House. There has been very little curiosity from the Secret Service, the press, and mostly anyone else in Washington.
A court decision came down declaring the White House has to stop working with social media providers to censor users, and the press is upset… at the judge.
The movie “The Sound Of Freedom” had bitter responses from the entertainment media, who all pushed the narrative that the film was a Q-Anon fantasy…despite being based on actual events that predated the emergence of Q-Anon. The film went on to be a top-10 money earner in theaters.
Jason Aldean was targeted by an obsessive press (Rolling Stone among the worst) as his song “Try That In a Small Town” was accused of being racist. The hectoring in the media drove the song to the top of the national singles chart.
The Screen Actors Guild goes on strike - the public that does not care is told by the press that the actors have the full support of the general public.
The world’s oldest newspaper stopped printing. The world’s oldest newspaper readers have to learn how to navigate the internet to get copies.
Tiffany Gomas becomes the darling of the internet for a filmed meltdown on an airline flight declaring “That M—-er F—er is not real!”, about some unknown person in the back of the plane.
Congressman Greg Casar goes on a dramatic hunger strike that lasted all of 9 hours.
Hunter Biden strikes a plea deal and nobody left of center was the least bit suspicious.
AUGUST
Donald Trump has his third indictment, this one in Washington D.C., as well as a fourth in Georgia. While the press is obsessed with all of this, the public is insufficiently outraged, leading Andrea Mitchell to suspect “indictment fatigue” is taking place.
Wildfires break out on Maui leading to over 100 deaths and many more people displaced. A media blackout ensues and this shields the culprit - inaction from local government officials.
The FBI stormed the home of a man suspected of threatening President Biden, ultimately killing him.
In what could be the ultimate entertainment irony lawsuit, former dancers for the corpulent music star Lizzo accuse the flutist of fat-shaming and other nonsensical claims.
In Alabama, a riot breaks out between boaters and members from a ferry attempting to dock, and the chair-tossing video entertains social media for days.
This sums up 2023 for me… #alabamaboatbrawl #hattoss pic.twitter.com/bvZhlIyubv
— Mack (@TheMacckk) December 31, 2023
- The offices of a small-town newspaper - The Morgan County Record - are raided by the local sheriff, stemming from an expose of a business owner having a DUI record. This makes for one of the worst episodes of “In The Heat Of The Night”.
- Oliver Anthony becomes an overnight sensation. People from all sides tried to lay claim to him, then he drew ire from people on both sides, yet all the while he preferred no side whatsoever.
There was a shooting in Jacksonville and the press managed to be critical of Ron DeSantis for not suspending his campaign to go to the city, then for coming to the city, then for not condemning the shooter, and then for calling the shooter a “scumbag."
President Biden had a softball interview on The Weather Channel, discussing a pet topic - the environment - and he managed to deliver a list of claims no one has yet to explain.
SEPTEMBER
Russel Brand becomes the focus of sexual assault allegations, and he refuses to buckle from the pressure of the decades-old allegations.
Two jets were lost in the same week; the military could not find a crashed F-35, and Aaron Rodgers went down for the season in his first drive since he was traded to New York.
Jamaal Bowman had his fire alarm scandal erupt during the budget debate weekend, and the press defended him by suggesting he is a politician who was flummoxed by how doors and fire alarms operate.
Democrat candidate in Virginia Susanna Gibson was discovered to have been performing live sex shows for cash on the adult social site Chaturbate. The press attempted to say her public performances were “leaked”, and “revenge porn”, as the press was clearly trying to protect her campaign.
Lauren Boebert was caught with her date groping each other in the dark during a stage production, and the calls for her to resign over this were amusing to hear after the Gibson defenses.
The passing of Jimmy Buffet had many crying into their pina coladas.
Disney’s year of troubles continued as it entered into a carriage dispute with Spectrum and saw its channels pulled off that company’s cable system just as the NFL season was about to start.
Jennifer Granholm embarked on an EV road trip to show how vital electric cars are these days, and the venture devolved into a fiasco.
An online focus went on for days that speculated how often people thought about the Roman Empire each day. Many more began thinking too many people have too much spare time.
OCTOBER
Hamas staged a gruesome attack inside of Israel and it sparked weeks of press support for Hamas and then months of blatant antisemitic behavior across the country.
In some of the worst journalism seen of a collective nature, multiple outlets incorrectly reported that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza. This sparked protests and other negative reactions in numerous countries.
The amount of major news outlets who completely butchered their credibility with this errant accusation that Israel “bombed” a hospital is both pathetic, and unsurprising.
— Brad Slager: Flips On The Highbeams In Fog Of War (@MartiniShark) October 18, 2023
The @NYTimes was not alone, but possibly the worst example.
1/ pic.twitter.com/pUuDV7MgBP
The Republicans kept at their record of ridiculousness and a faction in the House rose in opposition to Kevin McCarthy and led to the first-ever vote to expel a sitting House speaker
Following the death of Senator Diane Feinstein, it was up to Governor Gavin Newsom to fill her vacant seat, and he tabbed Laphonza Butler, a Democrat activist, not a politician. Also, she is not a California resident but lives in Maryland.
Meanwhile, in the House, Nancy Pelosi was told she needed to vacate the posh office she had occupied well after she was no longer the Speaker. Members of the press were deeply offended by this…for some reason.
The studios caved, the writers and actors got their demands, Hollywood ended its strikes, and the general public yawned in response.
After several names entered the voting process and failed to secure the votes for the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson was voted to succeed McCarthy, because they found someone who nobody knew, and therefore there were not enough people voting against him.
Joe Biden signed an executive order to address concerns with the growing use of artificial intelligence. The AP reports he was inspired to do so after watching a Tom Cruise movie.
NOVEMBER
USA Today went through a series of layoffs through the year as well as financial challenges chasing off a high number of executives - but they hired a dedicated reporter to cover Taylor Swift.
Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newson staged a debate because the California governor is NOT running for the Democratic nomination, nope he sure is not doing that!
In Dublin, riots broke out after an immigrant went on a stabbing spree attacking a woman and children. The press is shielding the identity of the attacker but is free to blame the rioters on the far right, and even Elon Musk.
At Deadspin, the race-obsessed writer Carron Phillips accused a 9-year-old football fan of wearing blackface and being a racist. The boy was in team colors and was himself a Native American.
Media Matters works to chase advertisers off of Twitter by rigging results of returns on pro-hate content. Elon Musk drops a massive defamation lawsuit on the left-wing outlet.
Javier Milei shocks Argentina by winning the presidential election on a pledge to wipe out socialism. Predictably the press is upset and predictably blames this on Donald Trump.
In California, a pro-Israel protestor is attacked and dies at the hands of a pro-Palestine protestor, but the press looks to diminish the attack and obscure any bigotry connected to the attack.
Sports Illustrated was hit with an AI scandal and after being found posting AI content from AI-generated writers the real-life executives were dispatched quickly.
After Steven Crowder releases a portion of the Tennessee trans shooter manifesto the press - who normally leap at revealing these writings - instead work to stifle the release.
Disney’s miserable year continued as the holiday releases in theaters of “The Marvels” and “Wish” failed miserably.
DECEMBER
Ivy League professors testify before Congress about the rampant antisemitism seen on college campuses, and their disgraceful performances lead to severe ramifications.
A townhome in D.C. is blasted into confetti and the footage leads to conspiracy theories, but few answers.
Video of the explosion. Hope everyone was out of the house#Arlington #ballston @ARLnowDOTcom @RealTimeNews10 pic.twitter.com/JSZE7LkoTD
— c “” maj (@connormaj) December 5, 2023
Time declares Taylor Swift as Person Of The Year.
A staffer from Democrat Senator Ben Cardin’s office recorded himself having sex inside the Senate hearing chambers. The press managed to find a way to imply this was the fault of conservatives.
Harvard President Claudine Gray finds herself entangled in a plagiarism scandal following her visit to Congress, and Harvard’s credibility is further rendered as school officials defend her.
In a curious case of internal fighting, the creator of the hit series “Yellowstone” sued Cole Hauser, the actor from his show over a coffee dispute, as both men are behind branded coffees and there was a trademark violation alleged before the suit was dropped entirely.
Another product generating conflict was the release of a conservative women's calendar, with swimmer Riley Gaines daring to be photographed wearing a swimsuit.
There is no rational argument that this isn’t soft core porn and intended to objectify women and sexually excite men.
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) December 28, 2023
You may be okay with it, but at least admit the intent.
The most cringe part of this entire project is that it’s marketed to conservative DADS. pic.twitter.com/cNISYmN3s8
Capping off the dysfunctional year, we had the release of a Doritos-flavored whiskey, something that seems preposterous, unpleasant, and a perfect summation of the year that was 2023.