Interesting weather to begin a new year. 59 degrees at 6 AM today, high yesterday was 57. Rainfall totals indicated .22 inches at the Hester household and the same at Curtis Brown Airport, Elizabethtown, NC.
Weather and politics gather more gossip than any topics I can think of, regardless of the year.
New Year discussion topic suggestions:
National debt…$19,948,064,697,246 and growing. Those holding debt notes include foreigners and dedicated funds, example, the Social Security Administration, and numerous others. The more our politicians talk about it, the more debt we accumulate. The info courtesy of Concord Coalition.
With the spotlight on our President and President-elect, thought it would be interesting to see the average approval rating of our past and current president, using Gallup Historical Statistics.
In order, with best rating #1.
1) John F. Kennedy 70.1
2) Dwight Eisenhower 65.0
3) George H.W. Bush 60.9
4) tie Bill Clinton 55.1
Lyndon Johnson 55.1
6) Ronald Reagan 52.8
7) George W. Bush 49.4
8) Richard Nixon 49.0
9) Gerald Ford 47.2
10) Jimmy Carter 45.5
11) Harry Truman 45.4
Using Gallup ratings, with 3 weeks remaining, Barak Obama has a rating of 57.0% approval rating, would be #4.
Hope I am still around after at least 4 years of Donald Trump. Will be interesting to compare his numbers with previous presidents.
Interesting footnote: approval ratings do change slightly even after presidents depart the White House.
If you are a NFL fan, you know ‘heads roll’ at the end of the season, especially among coaches and that is already underway. Kind of a ‘fruit basket turnover’.
Looking forward to the Alabama-Clemson College football game for the NCAA Championship.
How many New Year’s Resolutions have you already broken?
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year resolutions.
Every year I make a resolution to change myself…..this year making a resolution to be myself.
Remember you can reset your resolutions on January 14th (Orthodox New Year) and February 8th (Chinese New Year). After that, you are on your own.
robert g hester
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