Groundhog Day Links

I still don't think I can write a well-thought-out political piece right now (although most readers would probably say there is no evidence I've ever been able to), but I've collected a number of good story links:

Groundhogs totally deserve their own day (even if they can’t predict the weather) - Washington Post

The Basketball Team That Never Takes a Bad Shot – Wall Street Journal

Basketball's Other 3-Point Revolution - FiveThirtyEight

In America’s Heartland, Discussing Climate Change Without Saying ‘Climate Change’ - New York Times

The Health Battle Behind A2 Milk - The Atlantic

Why The Arctic Apple Means You May Be Seeing More GMOs At The Store - The Salt

Water Quality– Iowa Case Resolves One Issue, Clean Water Act Permitting Issue Remains Open - Farm Policy News

America's Great Divergence and Red State, Blue City - The Atlantic.  

Robots Over Roughnecks: Next Drilling Boom Might Not Add Many Jobs – OilPrice

Here's One Way Trump’s Team Could Manipulate Government Data - Slate

Troubled Waters: A Coalfield County Loses Trust in Water and Government - Ohio Valley Resource

Peter’s Choice – Mother Jones

Wilbur Ross and the Era of Billionaire Rule – Bloomberg

100 years ago, Americans talked about Catholics the way they talk about Muslims today - Vox and To my Jewish, Irish, Asian and Italian friends - The Reformed Broker

The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence - Rolling Stone

Malevolence Tempered by Incompetence: Trump’s Horrifying Executive Order on Refugees and Visas – Lawfare.  The first four words will probably define the Trump administration's legacy.

It Can Happen Here – Dollars & Sense

Rural counties’ economies depend on different industries - USDA ERS

SEASONS OF NORWAY - A Time-Lapse Adventure

SEASONS of NORWAY - A Time-Lapse Adventure from Morten Rustad on Vimeo.

Chart of the Day - Trump "Landslide" Edition

FiveThirtyEight:

By most measures, Trump’s victory was modest

		ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHARE		POPULAR VOTE SHARE		POPULAR VOTE MARGIN		OVERALL
YEAR	PRESIDENT	SHARE	RANK	SHARE	RANK	MARGIN	RANK	AVERAGE RANK
1936	Roosevelt	98.5	1	60.8	2	+24.3	3	2.0
1972	Nixon	96.7	3	60.7	3	+23.2	4	3.3
1964	Johnson	90.3	5	61.1	1	+22.6	5	3.7
1984	Reagan	97.6	2	58.8	5	+18.2	6	4.3
1920	Harding	76.1	13	60.4	4	+26.2	1	6.0
1932	Roosevelt	88.9	6	57.4	7	+17.8	7	6.7
1928	Hoover	83.6	9	58.2	6	+17.4	8	7.7
1956	Eisenhower	86.1	7	57.4	8	+15.4	9	8.0
1924	Coolidge	71.9	14	54.0	11	+25.2	2	9.0
1940	Roosevelt	84.6	8	54.7	10	+10.0	11	9.7
1952	Eisenhower	83.2	10	55.2	9	+10.9	10	9.7
1980	Reagan	90.9	4	50.8	16	+9.7	12	10.7
1944	Roosevelt	81.4	11	53.4	12	+7.5	15	12.7
1988	GHW Bush	79.2	12	53.4	13	+7.7	14	13.0
2008	Obama	67.8	17	52.9	14	+7.3	16	15.7
1996	Clinton	70.4	15	49.3	21	+8.6	13	16.3
2012	Obama	61.7	18	51.0	15	+3.9	19	17.3
1948	Truman	57.1	19	49.6	20	+4.5	18	19.0
1992	Clinton	68.8	16	43.0	25	+5.6	17	19.3
2004	GW Bush	53.2	24	50.7	17	+2.5	20	20.3
1976	Carter	55.2	23	50.1	18	+2.1	21	20.7
1960	Kennedy	56.4	21	49.7	19	+0.2	23	21.0
1968	Nixon	55.9	22	43.4	24	+0.7	22	22.7
2016	Trump	56.5	20	45.9	23	-2.1	25	22.7
2000	GW Bush	50.4	25	47.9	22	-0.5	24	23.7

Sources: Dave Leip, Statistical Abstract of the United States, David Wasserman, Wikipedia

NASA Photo of the Day

January 26:

GOES-16: Moon over Planet Earth
Image Credit: NOAA, NASA Explanation: Launched last November 19 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the satellite now known as GOES-16 can now observe planet Earth from a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. Its Advanced Baseline Imager captured this contrasting view of Earth and a gibbous Moon on January 15. The stark and airless Moon is not really the focus of GOES-16, though. Capable of providing a high resolution full disk image of Earth every 15 minutes in 16 spectral channels, the new generation satellite's instrumentation is geared to provide sharper, more detailed views of Earth's dynamic weather systems and enable more accurate weather forecasting. Like previous GOES weather satellites, GOES-16 will use the moon over our fair planet as a calibration target.

Train Wreck

10 days in, and George W. Bush is looking like Lincoln.  I don't think I can take this.  Opening up Facebook makes me want to throw my computer out the window and then run it over with my car.  I may have to spend the next four years keeping a safe distance from the rest of humanity.