Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017 Comes To A Close

In a few hours, the year 2017 will come to its end, and 2018 will start.  Before writing this post, I took a brief look at what I wrote a year ago, in which I hoped that this year would be somewhat less interesting than last year.  I'd have to admit that on that count, I might have been frustrated.  If anything, the interesting times in which we live have continued.

In January, Donald Trump, a man who had never before held political office was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States.  A day later, there were large rallies opposing the new president in many American cities, in which many participants wore "pussyhats" or vagina costumes.  I must give the organizers of these events credit for what they pulled off, even though I obviously disagreed with their purpose.  Putting together these protests and keeping them all peaceful was probably no easy task.

President Trump has had some success in his first year in office.  He appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court to replace the late Antonin Scalia, and other judges to various federal courts.  His policy of scaling back regulations appears to have helped the economy.  His tax reform plan was passed by Congress earlier this month, In the Middle East, ISIS has lost most of its territory on Trump's watch.  On the other hand, he has had a whale of time trying to establish a ban on travel from some dangerous places in the world.  His most audacious act might be the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, something opposed by much of the world, but in reality is little more than acknowledging reality.

The use of vehicles to deliberately run over pedestrians, in what might be called "low level terror attacks", has continued from last year, in Europe, Australia and the United States.  The deadliest attack during the year, however, was the shooting in Las Vegas, in which a man fired from the Mandalay Bay Hotel on concert attendees across the street.

Over in Europe, migrants continued to enter the continent by crossing the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.  This led to a conflict between the European Union and the countries of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which have refused to admit them.  The Prime Ministers of Poland and Hungary had no reluctance to point out their reasons.

In Europe and America, a movement calling itself Antifa, for "anti-fascist", showed itself to be the true fascists, such as by shutting down at least one speech by someone they with whom they disagree.  On the other side of the aisle was the "alt-right" movement, which tangled with Antifa when they tried to hold a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Numerous NFL players, starting with Colin Kaepernick, decided to kneel for the National Anthem instead of standing, as their way of protesting police brutality and other alleged injustices.  As a result, NFL attendance and TV ratings appear to have gone down.

The above stories, of course, are just the ones that I can recall off the top of my head.  There are obviously many other things that are worth remembering.  In my own life, I've been able to travel to the Netherlands and Belgium, the latter including some places I first saw in 2005.  Back here in the United States, I was able to travel westward to Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, whose mayor has four legs and a wagging tail, and southward to Philadelphia, Tennessee, to see the solar eclipse which ran from coast to coast.  It literally might be the most awesome thing I have ever seen.

I'd love to see 2018 be less interesting than 2017, but I've learned not to expect it.  I'm sure that the upcoming year will see some of the above trends continue, and will produce other stories that I can't yet anticipate.  To all reading this, see you next year.

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