2018? Maybe you got drunk and missed some of it. Here’s part one of The Tyee’s annual alphabetical review. Better fix yourself another drink.
A
Jim Acosta
Following a brief tussle with a White House intern, the Trump administration revoked the CNN reporter’s press pass, then released a video to justify the move. That poor assaulted intern was forced to see a doctored. Sorry, a doctor.
Affordability
It continues to be a crisis in Vancouver. But if everybody puts their minds to this problem we can certainly solve it, as we have done with climate change, systemic racism and littering.
Alphonso Davies
Finally, a homegrown Canadian soccer superstar! Go Whitecaps!
Amazon
The website Sperling’s Best Places ranked 64 contenders vying to win the new Amazon headquarters. Vancouver was ranked 64th. On the bright side, that would make us #1 on Sperling’s Worst Places.
B
Bayern Munich
Please disregard the earlier Whitecaps enthusiasm. Du schaffst das, Alphonso!
Maxime Bernier
He broke away from the Conservatives to form the new People’s Party. That’s “people,” as in plural.
Beto
Beto O’Rourke was big in 2018. Milk bottle nails were happening too. Check back next year.
Blimp
It’s been a long wait for Game of Thrones fans, but this year we finally got a glimpse of the terrifying finale...
Bombs
Because even a Trump loony knows that mailing guns doesn’t work.
Books
Bestseller lists broke down into red and blue in 2018, but the blue books won out. There were some Trump-friendly hits like The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump by Gregg Jarrett, and Tucker Carlson’s Ship of Fools. But pro-Trump books have a major handicap — Trump doesn’t read, so his followers probably consider buying books disrespectful. No surprise then that the biggest sellers were the books that attempted to pull back the curtain on the Pennsylvania Avenue Asylum: Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, Bob Woodward’s Fear, Unhinged by Omarosa Manigault, Everything Trump Touches Dies by Rick Wilson. There was a boomlet in late night TV show offerings — Stephen Colbert’s Whose Boat Is This Boat?, and A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, from the team at Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. Then late in the year came the year’s biggest seller: Becoming by Michelle Obama, the pages of which have already been stained by a million tears of grief and nostalgia.
Bottom
The bottom? Not yet. The Trump Administration sees more bottoms than a half-price proctologist.
Brazil
Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte, Brexit... now add Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro to the list of recent democracy fails. In addition to his stated homophobia, racism, gun fetish and opposition to legal abortion, Bolsonaro quickly moved to amalgamate the ministries of the environment and agriculture. In a country where farming is perhaps the biggest threat to Amazon conservation, that amounts to putting the Christmas ham in the dog dish for safekeeping.
Brexit
Going very well, thanks. Very well indeed. Swimmingly. Brilliant. Tip-top. Tickety-boo. The dog’s bollocks. We’re well chuffed. Pear-shaped? Not a bit of it. Why? Have you heard something?
Broncos
As the bluesmen tell, you meet the Devil at the crossroads. In April, 16 people were killed and 13 injured at the meeting of two rural Saskatchewan roads when the Humboldt Broncos bus collided with a tractor trailer. Most of the victims were teenage hockey players. It would have been a major news story anyway, but the intersection of tragedy with this Canadian rite of passage gave the disaster added resonance.
Bros
C
Cages
A.k.a. Trump cribs — the latest word in American child care. (Although Fox News insisted they were not cages — just “walls made of chain-link fences.”)
(Blame) Canada
On the global stage Canada generally plays the boring nice guy. Thanks to Donald Trump and the NAFTA negotiations we finally got to stretch out and play the villain role for once. Hey, when the new Toy Story movie comes out, maybe Woody will be rustling dairy cattle from decent American farmers.
Canuck the Crow
Fear-stricken Vancouverites vote for knife-wielding crow as city’s new unofficial mascot. Still more evidence that democracy can fall prey to cheap thuggery.
Climate Change
Historical trivia: Did you know that the phrase “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it,” was once just a joke, rather than established policy?
Crack Dealers
Say what you like about Trump, but his presidency has not been bad for everybody. Crack lawyers love the guy.
Crazy Rich Asians
In Vancouver theatres, a popular movie. In Vancouver real estate, a controversial theory.
D
Daniel Dale
Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star is a Washington superstar. As the paper’s Washington bureau chief, Dale has dedicated himself to counting all of Trump’s lies and misstatements. Used batteries from his calculator are barged to a massive dedicated landfill in northern Virginia. When the war on truth is finally over Daniel Dale will get three commemorative airports, two bridges, and a statue on the White House lawn. True!
Dead Candidates
Thanks to the good people of Nevada, death is no longer the political handicap it once was.
Viola Desmond
Affordable art at last. I have here a beautiful Viola Desmond print I can let you have for only $23.95.
Coming up on The Tyee after Christmas, Steve’s Burgess’s 2018 from A to Z continues. And a reminder to readers that comments are closed over the holiday break until we return in 2019. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments this year! ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
