January 14, 2017 Night

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Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 24 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind.The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime. 

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 20 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal. Light and variable wind becoming northwest around 6 mph after midnight. In 2016, it got down to 23 degrees under cloudy skies. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1957.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 81% illuminated. The Last Quarter Moon is on Thursday night with mostly cloudy skies expected. The Full “Snow” Moon is in 4 weeks. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:51 am, which is 27 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 34 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 1 minutes and 40 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 34 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees above normal. Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies and a high of 42 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1995. 13.4 inches of snow fell back in 1983.

In four weeks on February 11 the sun will be setting at 5:23 pm, which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 27 and 8 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 34 and 17 degrees. The record high of 59 degrees was set back in 1981.

Looking ahead, Valentines Day is in 1 month, Average High is 40 is in 7 weeks, April Fools Day is in 11 weeks, Good Friday is in 3 months, Mother’s Day is in 4 months and Flag Day is in 5 months.

Changing Nature of News

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One question I have about the changing of the president is how it will change the evening news and big story of the day. Will big stories about shootings be replaced by stories of foreign Islamic terrorists attacking our country? Will crazy individuals shooting up elementary schools be replaced with burka wearing men blowing up government buildings and hijacking airplanes?

I don’t know. I doubt the president can choose the kind of terror that impacts our country directly nor can he choose which stories the newspapers decide to pick up on. Certainly he can focus law enforcement on certain threats and have the federal government frame issues in a certain light. A shooting might not get as much publicity as a foreign terrorist attacking American soil under a Trump administration, no matter how minor the terror attack really was.

I could see a President Trump promoting a more conservative narrative over what Americans should be concerned over. I could see foreign terrorists being more outraged by Trump, and more likely to strike US soil under his watch. At the same time, I could see angry right-wing individuals and groups being less angry now that we have a president that is sympathetic to their concerns, and less likely to engage in violence.

It will be very interesting in the coming months to see how the news narrative will change under a federal government controlled by Donald Trump.

Liberals

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“Calling yourself a liberal or conservative is like saying, ‘I’ve made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts.'”

– Governor Nelson Rockefeller, 1968

The Fire And The Fuel – The Economist

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The Fire And The Fuel – The Economist

"If black America were a country, it would have a worse life expectancy than Mexico, a worse homicide rate than Ivory Coast and a higher proportion of its citizens behind bars than anywhere on earth. In terms of social mobility, it would be far harder to rise through the wealth ranks than in white America, however wealthy the starting point."

"The gap between what black and white families earn is large enough. The wealth gap is much larger: the median white family in 2013 had net assets of $142,000; the median black family had a paltry $11,000."

Truck Drivin’ Son Of A Gun ~ Dave Dudley.

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Well there goes Joe flyin' low making up his time
But where I sit I don't believe you'd say I'm wastin' mine
I'm movin' faster than a Jimmy-8
If you think I'm losin' time you're runnin' late
I got a steady little baby waitin' back home for me
But there are six more towns to go till I'm back in Tennessee
And six more women at least I know
Yeah I'm a kiss stealin' wheelin' deelin' a truck drivin' son of a gun