A look back at 2017: Fall edition
The country endured a fair share of tragedy and division at the end of 2017, before the year concluded with a political win each on the left and right.
In late September, President Trump reignited a national debate about NFL players kneeling in protest during the national anthem when he spoke about it at a rally in Alabama. "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, "Get that son of a b---- off the field right now,'" Trump asked the crowd.
Players, coaches, and team owners across the league denounced the president's statement. The next weekend, more than 200 NFL players took a knee in a show of solidarity.
Shocking violence shook the nation in October, when 58 people were killed at an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas. A heavily armed gunman fired thousands of bullets down on concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, where he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history
Just 35 days later, another mass shooting took the lives of 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The youngest victim was just 18 months old; the oldest was 77. The shooter had previously been discharged form the Air Force for bad conduct for assaulting his spouse and child. That information was never reported to the FBI, which would have prevented him from buying a gun. He also had escaped from a mental health facility in the past.
What became one of the biggest stories of the year broke in October, when The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by movie producer Harvey Weinstein dating back decades. He denied the accusations, but the women's accounts were followed by a flood of additional stories revealing a deeply rooted problem in Hollywood and beyond. Powerful men from Louis C.K. to Charlie Rose to to Matt Lauer to Al Franken lost their jobs after accusers came forward.
This watershed moment sparked an overdue national conversation about sexual harassment that companies are still reckoning with. The hashtag #MeToo went viral as millions of people took to social media to share their experiences.
The end of the year saw politics return to the spotlight.
Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's special election to replace Attorney General Jeff Session in the Senate. Alabama hadn't elected a Democratic senator in 25 years. But Moore's campaign was shadowed by scandal after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct -- including some who said they were just teenagers when the incidents happened.
In the final days of 2017, it was Republicans' turn to celebrate as the Senate and the House passed their massive tax overhaul plan. It was the first major legislative victory for President Trump, who signed the bill into law on December 22nd.
Watch the full episode of the CBSN year-end special "2017 Unsubscribe" below.
