Final Grand Rapids, Michigan, climate summary for 2016: Fifth warmest and fifth wettest

2016 was the fifth warmest full year on record by average temperature, at 51.2 degrees F. The warmest full year by average temperature was 2012, at 52.8. The coldest full year by average temperature was 1917, at 44.6. The mean annual monthly mean average temperature is 48.1.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in 2016 was in February, at 1 degree F. The record lowest temperature occurred in February 1899, at -24. The mean annual monthly lowest minimum is -7.

The coldest winter season on record by heating degree days occurred in 1903-1904 with 7712 HDD. The warmest was 2011-2012 with 5253. The mean annual is 6713. December was just slightly above the December mean for HDD. For the season-to-date ending in December there were 2104 HDD. The mean for the season to date is 2488. By contrast, in 2015, which was part of the third warmest season on record by HDD, there were only 1855 HDD July-December. 

It was the fifth snowiest December on record with 37 inches. The snowiest December ever was in 2000, with 59.2 inches. The December mean snowfall is 16 inches.

The maximum temperature in 2016 occurred in June, with 93 degrees F. The record maximum temperature occurred in July 1936, with 108 degrees F. The mean annual monthly highest maximum temperature is 95.

The warmest summer season on record by cooling degree days occurred in 1921 with 1200 CDD. The coolest summer occurred in 1992, with 316. The mean annual is 696. Summer 2016 ranked 15th warmest by CDD, which totaled 936.

2016 turned out to be the fifth wettest year on record, with 46.29 inches of rain. The wettest year on record was in 2008, with 48.8 inches of rain. The driest year on record was 1930, with 20.92. The mean annual rainfall is 34.48.

Congress sucks: Let's make it bigger!

As we all know, Congress sucks.

About only 17% of Americans approved of the Congress in 2016 according to Gallup, which is indicative of the historical lack of esteem for it. The average is just 31% approval since 1974. Real Clear Politics has its own tracker here, going back only to 2009. It is a composite of various polls, yielding an even lower average of 14.5% approval than Gallup's current 18%.

You get the idea. At best only about a third of the people approve of the job Congress is doing at any given time. And the top reasons given are 1) gridlock, bickering, not compromising and 2) not getting anything done, not making decisions.

So why make Congress bigger?

In a word, to make it more representative, end the gridlock and get something done.

In short, make Congress overwhelmingly Republican . . . because the country is.

Currently, just 435 congressmen and women represent districts unnaturally carved out of America's 3,144 counties, parishes, boroughs, census areas, independent cities and the District of Columbia.

I say unnaturally carved out because after every census the gerrymandering fight begins to redraw the congressional district lines to favor incumbents of the party in power whose boundaries transgress all over those counties, parishes, boroughs, census areas, independent cities and DC.

We've already got all these boundaries and units that go back to the beginning of the country in many cases, so we don't need these 435 fake Congressional districts anymore.

My own county with a population of just over 600,000 is carved up by two congressmen who each represent over 700,000 spanning many other counties. That doesn't make any sense.

The constitution never intended this.

It intended representation to grow with population, but in the 1920s Congress saw a loophole and fixed representation at the then current 435. There's nothing magic about 435. Why not 439? 394? 943? Did Moses decree 435? George Washington? The founders never settled the question, but they never intended representation to stop growing with population. If we followed an early formula, we'd have one Congressman for every 50,000 people. That would mean 6,473 in the US House today!

Ever since the 1920s we've been treated to an increase in oligarchy where just 218 votes are needed to ram something down the throats of more and more people.

You know, like Obamacare, which was passed without a single Republican vote.

Meanwhile Republicans just showed that they own the grassroots politically, winning the counties 2623 to 489. Here's the map that shows that, from brilliant maps dot com:

If you want to end the gridlock and get something done, reform the Congress to represent the country for a change. Abolish the Congressional districts, and elect representatives to the US House from every county across this land.

You say you want a revolution . . ..

Nat Hentoff, who called Obama the most un-American president we have ever had, has died at 91

Despite Obamacare, or because of it? The obit here doesn't tell us. WaPo reports it was natural causes.

Neither story tells us how Hentoff really felt about Obama. Neither does his Wikipedia entry. For a sampling, follow my label "Nat Hentoff" below.

He was a true born son of liberty. May he rest in peace.

All Obama gets credit for is the extra 4.483 million jobs since the July 2007 peak: 47,000 jobs a month net increase after 8 years

Secure Fence Act of 2006 may be Trump's vehicle for The Wall

Politico reports here:

Republican leaders, in tandem with Trump’s transition staff, are considering using a 2006 law signed by former President George W. Bush that authorized the construction of 700 miles-plus of “physical barrier” on the southern border. The law was never fully implemented and did not include a sunset provision, allowing Trump to pick up where Bush left off — with the help of new money from Congress. ...

The 2006 Secure Fence Act, included as part of a broader immigration reform package, originally called for 850 miles of double fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile southern border. Lawmakers amended the law in 2008 to reduce the length to a minimum of 700 miles, a change that also gave the secretary of Homeland Security discretion over what kind of “physical barrier” to construct.

Ultimately, only 36 miles of double-layer fencing was erected. U.S. Customs and Border Protection built roughly 350 miles of single-layer pedestrian fences, most which stand about 18 feet, and 300 miles of low-level vehicle barriers that any person could easily walk through, according to sources following the matter.

Liberals believe Russians celebrated Trump's win, but not that US Muslims celebrated 9/11

Hm.

How Obamacare hides federal spending

Seen here:

Obamacare's direct subsidies to insurers are falsely labeled as "tax credits," hiding some $104 billion in federal spending in the process.

Don't miss Chris Plante in the queue at Real Clear Politics talking about all the Democrat hacks still working in "journalism"

Here.

Medicaid enrollment, healthcare for the poor, has exploded by 46% under Obama

In 2009 Medicaid enrollment stood at 50.9 million, but in October 2016 it's 74.4 million.

Generally speaking, you are eligible when your income, if you have any, is up to 133% of the poverty guideline, which came to about $15,650 in 2015. In that year there were only about 52 million individual workers who earned up to that much.

John McCain is the perfect guy to investigate hacking

Laugh of the Day: Democrats haven't been this mad since . . .

Except it's true.

WaPo and White House, but I repeat myself, lie about Obamacare enrollments by 100%

WaPo implies more than 20 million are enrolled in a story out today here:

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama told Democrats that they are well positioned to defend the law, which has extended insurance to more than 20 million Americans.

Extended. As in offered. Here's the reality.

The Motley Fool said in November it checked in June and the number actually enrolled and paying was 10.4 million:

The fourth open enrollment period of Obamacare, Officially known as the Affordable Care Act, kicked off this past Tuesday, Nov. 1, and it's slated to run through the end of January. At last check in June 2016, 10.4 million people were enrolled through the various marketplace exchanges, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Congressional Budget Office has stuck by its forecast that roughly 10 million people will be enrolled and paying by Dec. 31, 2016.

A month earlier the number was 11.1 million, meaning some people who enrolled early in the year subsequently stopped paying and fell out:

As a reminder, 11.1 million people remained enrolled and paying customers as of March 31, 2016 per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services . . .. 

Since last October it has been widely reported that the Obama Regime, soon to be history, has been predicting just 13.8 million sign-ups by the end of January 2017, which means Josh Earnest is nothing but a Stalinist stooge for the Regime, nothing but a salesman, and WaPo its willing accomplice in continuing to report the highly fanciful figure of 20 million.

Fake news, you see.

Obamacare has failed utterly and will be lucky to hit the 10 million mark this time around before President Trump ends the farce that it is.

So Obama has a phone and a pen, but Trump has Twitter and . . .

. . . an eraser.

Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21 is just a bunch of Democrats who had image of Clinton as their Facebook photo

From the story here:

For her part, Shook said her aim was not to coopt any other movement. It was just an idea that took hold after the victory of a president-elect caught on tape boasting of grabbing women's private parts, and the defeat of a woman who seemed to her much more qualified for the job. She said she had no idea the race of the women she first contacted; in fact, she said, most had an image of Clinton as their Facebook profile photo.

How much does Obamacare suck for my family newly eligible for health insurance from a small business?

New full-time job comes with health insurance for the family!

Except it costs $20,199.24 per year, of which the company pays $3,000. Net = $17,199.24 per year before anyone ever sees a doctor.

Current pre-Obamacare plan, grandfathered in from 2010, costs $4,253.20 per year, before anyone ever sees a doctor. FOUR TIMES LESS.

Congress can't act soon enough to repeal this Obamacare boondoggle.

Tin ear Republicans lead off 2017 with rule changes on ethics

Trump isn't happy. Bloomberg reported the story here.

The congressional job approval rating last measured 18% and hasn't been above 20% since 2012.

Sen. John McCain once again demonstrates the subtlety of a brick thrown through a window, irresponsibly elevating unproven cyberattacks to "an act of war"

Why Arizona keeps inflicting this incompetent gasbag on the rest of the country is difficult to fathom.

You remember John McCain's failed presidential bid, in which he told us we had nothing to fear from a president Obama, and then having lost to him in 2008 and running for reelection to the US Senate in 2010 he told us Obama was all of a sudden on a left wing crusade to bankrupt the country. Well, which is it, Senator?

And now the warmonger in John McCain raises its ugly head, here, in Ukraine of all places, stirring the pot in the Russian Bear's own backyard:

"When you attack a country, it's an act of war," McCain said of the recent hackings on Ukrainian TV, according to a transcript compiled by Reuters. "And so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay so that we can perhaps persuade Russians to stop this kind of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy."

Hey Senator, what price should Russia pay for an act of war? Usually war is the appropriate response. If you're not really prepared to launch one, SHUT THE HELL UP.

Make teenagers work again: Repeal the minimum wage

3.3 million fewer teens work in 2016 than in 1978 even though

the size of this population in 2016 is the same as in the late '70s

The minimum wage of 30 cents an hour which prevailed throughout World War II is the equivalent of $5.12/hr today using CPI, not the federally mandated $7.25/hr.

The minimum wage today has outpaced CPI by almost 42% since its inception. Meanwhile teenage employment has contracted by almost 40% since the late 1970s peak.

Already by 1978 the minimum wage was wildly out of whack. It should have been only $1.41/hr instead of the federally mandated $2.65/hr, outpacing inflation by a whopping 88%. No wonder employers have sought cheaper labor abroad, wrecking it for everyone, not just teenagers.

Do we believe in free market capitalism, or not?

We have to repeal the Obamacare bill so that you can find out what is in the next bill

h/t Harvey

The best Trump comeback was still the first comeback