December 28, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
A Look Back At 2016
By ADAM GELLER
AP National Writer
F
ed up with Europe’s
union across bor-
ders? Reject it. Dis-
gusted with the U.S.
political establishment?
Can it.
The news in 2016 was
filled with battles over
culture and territory
that exposed divisions
far deeper than many
realized. But people
men by police in Loui-
siana and Minnesota.
A South Carolina jury
failed to reach a verdict
in the trial of an officer
caught on video fatally
shooting a black man
fleeing a traffic stop.
Division, though, was
hardly limited to the U.S.
In
Venezuela,
tri-
ple-digit inflation and
shortages of food and
medicine fueled 6,000
protests throughout the
While the headlines told many different sto-
ries, the thread connecting much of the news
was a decisive torching of moderation, no mat-
ter how uncertain the consequences
nuclear program in ex-
change for relief on sanc-
tions, it marked the cul-
mination of prolonged
negotiation by President
Barack Obama’s admin-
istration. But the pact
was repeatedly attacked
by critics in both coun-
tries, including Donald
Trump, saying it gave the
other side too much.
“The wisest plan of cra-
zy Trump is tearing up
the nuclear deal,” a lead-
ing Iranian hardliner,
Hossein Shariatmadari,
told his country’s news
agency.
In mid-February, Su-
preme Court Justice An-
tonin Scalia died in his
sleep, leaving a vacuum
on a court where he had
long been the leading
conservative voice. Bare-
ly an hour after Scalia’s
death was confirmed,
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell staked
out an uncompromis-
ing position on what lay
ahead.
“The American people
should have a voice in the
selection of their next
Supreme Court justice,”
McConnell said, disre-
garding the fact that U.S.
voters had twice elected
Obama. “Therefore, this
vacancy should not be
filled until we have a new
president.”
North Carolina law-
makers prompted pro-
tests and counter-pro-
tests when they rushed
through House Bill 2,
voiding local gay-rights
ordinances and limit-
ing bathroom access
for transgender people.
Companies, the NBA and
others followed through
on threats to move jobs,
games and performances
out of the state, amplify-
ing the division.
Tensions over U.S. po-
licing bled into a third
year. In July, a sniper
killed five Dallas police
officers during a protest
over shootings of black
year that brought mil-
lions into the streets. But
the government of Pres-
ident Nicolas Maduro,
blamed by many voters
for the chaos, blocked a
recall campaign.
“If you’re going to shoot
me because I’m hun-
gry, shoot me!” a young
man shouted at a soldier
during one protest in Ca-
racas.
In Colombia, voters
narrowly rejected a deal
between the government
and a guerrilla group to
end a 52-year civil war.
Even when lawmakers
approved a renegotiated
deal, the peace remained
fragile.
In Brazil, senators im-
peached President Dil-
ma Rousseff for manip-
ulating budget figures,
See TOP NEWS on page 4
AP PHOTO/RICK BOWMER
confronting those di-
vides repeatedly reject-
ed the prospect of mid-
dle-ground solutions and
the institutions put in
place to deliver them.
While the headlines
told many different sto-
ries, the thread connect-
ing much of the news
was a decisive torching
of moderation, no matter
how uncertain the conse-
quences.
“You’re not laughing
now, are you?” Nigel
Farage, a leader of the so-
called Brexit campaign
told the European Par-
liament after voters in
Great Britain spurned
membership in the conti-
nental union. “What the
little people did ... was
they rejected the multi-
nationals, they rejected
the merchant banks, they
rejected big politics and
they said actually, we
want our country back,”
he said.
Farage was speaking
only about the United
Kingdom. But his obser-
vation that many peo-
ple well beyond Britain
shared that disdain for
working within the sys-
tem was borne out re-
peatedly in the year’s
biggest headlines.
In a U.S. presidential
campaign fueled by an-
ger and insults, in Syria’s
brutal war and Venezu-
ela’s massive protests,
in fights over gay rights
and migration, opposing
sides rejected not just
compromise but the pol-
itics of trying to forge it.
That was clear from the
year’s first days, when
armed activists took over
a national wildlife ref-
uge in Oregon’s high des-
ert, opposing the federal
government’s control of
public lands.
“It needs to be very
clear that these buildings
will never, ever return
to the federal govern-
ment,” LaVoy Finicum,
an Arizona rancher
In this Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 file photo, Trump supporters “boo” members of the media after a heckler
was removed as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop
in Birmingham, Ala. The news in 2016 was filled with battles over culture and territory that exposed
divisions far deeper than many realized.
Oregon Standoff
A group of 20 armed White militants led by Ammon Bundy seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon’s
high desert country on Jan. 2. The group, saying they were acting on the belief local people should control federal lands, continued to
occupy the refuge until the final arrests were made Feb. 11. Occupier Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was shot and killed by law enforcement
Jan. 26; all other occupiers were taken alive. On Oct. 27 Ammon Bunday and six other defendants were acquitted on charges of
conspiracy to impede federal officers and possession of firearms. Here, a member of the occupying group is pictured warming himself
by a fire Jan. 6.
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
“
among the activists, told
reporters. Weeks later,
federal agents stopped
vehicles outside the ref-
uge, arresting eight of
the activists and fatally
shooting Finicum when
he reached into a jacket
that held a loaded gun.
Even in the rare cases
when compromise pre-
vailed, it was viewed
with suspicion.
When a deal took effect
in January limiting Iran’s
AP PHOTO/ERIC SCHULTZ
Year’s Top News Filled With
Division — And No Middle Ground
Africatown Vandalized
James Williams and his son wait to sign up to volunteer to help at the Africantown Center for Education and Innovation in Seattle
following a break in at the center in late March. The center was defaced with racist slurs and swastikas along with sustaining thousands
of dollars in damage and theft to its computer systems. A former volunteer was arrested in connection with the incident.