We bid the year adieu with relief. How many Americans expected the pandemic to drag into a second year, or thought a peaceful transition of presidential power is no longer a given? We recount some of 2021s biggest and most-troubling stories in the hopes that 2022 will usher in more encouraging trends.

January 6ths infuriating putsch. As insurrections go, the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trumps supporters was an exercise in clownishness. Its most memorable image, after all, is of a guy with face paint and a fuzzy horned hat. Instead of causing the GOP to snap out its flirtation with autocracy, conservatives moved from mild condemnation to historical revisionism (hey, it really was Antifa) to whining about overly zealous prosecutions of riot participants.

Vaccines become line in the sand. The average American receives 16 childhood immunizations, so we were surprised that so many people became vaccine-averse when it comes to COVID-19. We oppose government mandates, but figure that this ongoing unpleasantness will go away more quickly if more people voluntarily take basic precautions. Instead, Americans spent most of the year arguing about vaccines with some preferring unusual treatments such as horse de-wormer.

Gubernatorial recall fails spectacularly. California Republicans have struggled to stay relevant, but they thought a recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom would do the trick. Instead of focusing on bread-and-butter issues that appeal to non-Republicans ham-fisted pandemic edicts, raging wildfires, water shortages, failing public schools they ran the campaign like a primary. Newsom defeated the recall by the same tally as he won the 2018 election.

Inflation soars out of control. To much surprise, the pandemic unleashed pent-up demand for consumer products, disrupted supply chains and unleashed inflationary government spending. Home prices are up by a third since the start of the pandemic and car lots are virtually empty, with dealers commanding massive markups. Making matters worse, as many as 111 container ships have idled off the Los Angeles coast. Were not experiencing 1970s-era gas lines, but Jimmy Carter is now a popular search term on Google.

Both parties are doubling down on extremes. During times of upheaval and divisiveness, the political parties could move toward the center, but Republicans have fully embraced the populist rights culture-war agenda and Democrats have fully embraced their progressive wings push for New Deal-era spending. Moderate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia put the kibosh on the $2 trillion Build Back Better debacle, while Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has called out the GOP for its January 6 revisionism, but such voices are crying in the wilderness.

Crime wave plagues urban areas. Our cities are enduring unusually brazen acts of lawlessness. In San Francisco and LA, organized bands of thieves have been looting businesses in broad daylight. Murder rates are up 30%. Some California officials are in denial, while others want to throw money at the problem. Theres no simple answer, but were ending the year amid a growing climate of fear.

Dont despair, but consider the news in the spirit of Shakespeare: Things without all remedy should be without regard: whats done is done. But lets all try to do better next year.

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Looking back at news from a trying year - The Whittier Daily News