Let's make list of the great things that happened in 2017

To The Daily Sun,

Happy New Year, everyone! Daylight is getting longer and the snowy landscapes are simply gorgeous. Get your skis sharpened and your sleds tuned up! The year was bizarre but good things happened in 2017. Let's make a list!

ISIS no longer has a territorial base of operations and recruitment. The global economy grew at 3 percent and the U.S. economy, with over 90 months of continued job growth, grew at 2.3 percent. The FDA approved a treatment in December in which a healthy gene is injected to replace defective copies of the gene in patients with a type of hereditary blindness. In August, the first gene-therapy product was approved to treat a form of leukemia. This year, there have only been 36 cases of the parasitic illness Guinea worm disease that infected 3.5 million people annually in Africa 30 years ago. Measles used to kill over million a year. By 2000, that number had been cut to 550,000 due to increased vaccination. Then the Measles and Rubella Initiative was launched in 2001. This worldwide effort distributed more than 5.5 billion doses and brought deaths down 84 percent. WHO estimates 17 million lives were saved since. In 1988, there were still around 350,000 cases of polio so the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was established and three billion children were immunized. According to WHO, "Polio was endemic in 125 countries and paralyzed about 1,000 children a day. Thanks to global efforts to vaccinate children in health centers and through campaigns, polio cases have decreased by 99 percent: from more than 350,000 cases a year to 413 reported cases in 2014." In 2017, 101 cases have been reported. Using data from various metrics and organizations, the International Food Policy Research Institute, which establishes a yearly Global Hunger Index found that since 1991 the percentage of malnourished people worldwide dropped from 19 percent to 10.8 percent.

In politics, The Real Clear Politics average has Obamacare at 51 percent approval vs 39 percent, and 8.8 million signed up for 2018. That is 96 percent of 2017's signup even though Trumpistas cut the sign-up time in half, the outreach funding by 90 percent, and in-person enrollment assistance by 41 percent. Centrist Emmanuel Macron crushed far-right Marine Le Pen for president of France. In the Virginia gubernatorial race, Ed Gillespie was defeated by Democrat Ralph Northam. Also in Virginia, self-described "chief homophobe," "bathroom bill" author and 13 term Republican state Del. Bob Marshall was defeated by Danica Roem, a transgender person. Perfect! In New Jersey, Democrat Philip Murphy beat Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Roy Moore lost!

In culture, #MeToo shined a light on the pervasive sexual misconduct from industry to politics worldwide, toppling many. #MeToo now has the military in its sights. Like Black Lives matter, it has empowered victims and demanded accountability. Teen pregnancy rates continued to drop; 9 percent from 2015 to 2016 and 67percent since 1991. Mattel unveiled a sporty, hijab-wearing Barbie, modeled on U.S. Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad. In Saudi Arabia, women will be able to drive in June of 2018, the 35-year ban on cinemas is set to end and Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji just became the first female artist to stage a concert there. In the courts, the judiciary stood up to the bigotry and xenophobia of Herr Trumpenfuhrer; his travel bans, attempted transgender ban, and attempts to cut funding to sanctuary cities.

On climate change, The cost of renewable energy in the U.K. fell to record-low levels and is cheaper than gas and nuclear. Several countries have plans to ban gasoline and diesel cars over the next couple decades; China, Britain, India, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Korea and Spain. Tesla's new electric Roadster is a monster. As ExtremeTech states, it clocks 0-62mph in 1.9 seconds, "quicker than any other street-legal car. One hundred mph comes up in 4.2 seconds. At a drag strip, you’ll trip the quarter-mile lights at just 8.8 seconds. Top speed? “More than 250 mph”, and, Musk said, “This is just the base model.” Its range is 620 miles. Having a range of 400 miles there is also the Lucid Air, boasting 1,000 horsepower and clocking 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds with a top speed over 235 mph. In a breakthrough, Toshiba announced in October they have developed a battery that can be charged in six minutes for 200 more miles of range. Nicaragua and Syria finally signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement which means every nation has signed on. Rhetoric aside, the U.S. can't actually completely leave the agreement until Nov. 4, 2020. Blowing off the feds, 20 U.S. states, 110 U.S. cities, over 180 universities, and more than 1,400 businesses have signed on to the Paris goals. The World Bank has also stated it will no longer provide loans for fossil fuel extraction.

Finally, Trump's approval rating hit 32 percent in a new Pew survey which means that the country hasn't lost its moral spine.

James Veverka

Tilton