First 5 Thoughts of 2017!

1. Happy New Year: Or so we tell ourselves, right? 2016 was downright awful but as bad as 2016 was, I suspect 2017 might prove worse. 
2. USC - Penn State: Will it be a tight game? First of all, I think the CFP committee got it completely wrong and frankly, USC and Penn State should have been in the CFP instead of Washington and Ohio State -- the blowout losses by these two teams highlights why they weren't the best of their respective conference. Having said that, I think there is just one team in the country that had a reasonable chance at beating Alabama and that would be USC. The only thing that has been able to stop USC's offense under Sam Darnold is USC. On defense, USC's secondary is the most talented in the country, and again, the only thing that beats USC's defense is USC -- under Clancy Pendergast the defense has dramatically improved each week but especially from last year. If all of the cylinders are firing, this game will be a blowout on the order of 45 - 17, if it isn't, the game could end up being 24 - 21. I think USC commits a handful of mental errors, but overcomes them and wins 35 - 21.
3. Emperor Donodus Boxed Himself In: The guy hates it when people delegitimize his win, thus, he recently announced that he has inside knowledge about the hacks that would disprove Russia as the source of hacking on the US elections process. Firstly, if that inside knowledge comes from confidential government info, he can't reveal it without violating federal law. Secondly, the only other source that he could point to is foreign, and that would highlight his collusion to the hacks. He is dumb as shit. He might get impeached in the first 100 days at this rate. What did you expect from a guy who claims to be a billionaire but can't raise the money to fund his own transition team? Expect more of this in 2017, which by the way, is one reason why his instability and ego present an existential threat to the US: In a tit-for-tat war of words with Kim Jong-Un following an expected, upcoming ICBM test, Emperor Donodus will not be able to contain himself from escalating the threat of a real war, leading to a nuclear war with NK.
4. Electric Cars: I was surprised to find out that 5-year old Nissan Leafs were widely available for under $7500. I realize that the limited ~60 miles range of a used battery in a Leaf makes it highly undesirable, but there are charging stations everywhere in Oregon and, so long as you had a charger at home and at work, this would make an exceptional commuter car, even if butt ugly. There are many other used electric cars that are well under $10,000, including the Fiat 500e, and I'd probably get a used electric vehicle if I owned a house such that I could install a 240v outlet to plug in.
5. Federal Debt Ceiling and Budget: Very soon, the media will start talking quite a lot about the federal debt ceiling. On March 15, the suspension of the debt ceiling will expire and the debt ceiling number will be reset. In just over a month, the current budget continuing resolution will expire on April 28. As all control of government now resides within the GOP, their actions to address both issues means they will now fully own the federal budget and debt. The low-risk path would be to keep at roughly the same spending rate increase rates and to suspend the debt ceiling indefinitely. Instead, we're likely to get what Emperor Donodus' supporters have called for: high risk.