If you’ve been off social media for the last few weeks, apparently 2016 was awful. Liberals are especially sensitive about their feelings of the year and have been tweeting, making videos, and Facebook posts saying, “f*** 2016.”
Yes, it hasn’t all been rosy. David Bowie and Prince died, the opioid epidemic exploded, and Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. All bad things, but overall 2016 was a pretty great year.
Here’s a list of 16 big and little reasons why 2016 was pretty solid:
1. Donald Trump ended two political dynasties. Ding dong the Bushes and Clintons are over. Yes, there’s still George P. and Chelsea who may run for higher office in the future, but in 2015 every political analyst thought this year was going to see a Hillary vs. Jeb election. Thankfully, they were wrong and the two families that have dominated Washington for over 30 years are finally outsiders.
2. Orange potatoes are going to save lives. The International Potato Center (CIP) and Harvestplus have developed a new type of super food to help feed the 43 million children in sub-Sahara Africa who suffer from food deficiencies. The new sweet potato is resistant to more droughts and disease and will help millions of children.
3. A better way to manage diabetes was also invented in 2016. The company Medtronic has been working for years to develop an artificial pancreas which was finally approved by the FDA this year. Users attach a device the size of an iPod to their body, and it measures their blood-sugar levels every five minutes, provides more insulin or withholds it as needed. According to Time, it will be available for commercial sale in 2017.
4. Abortions rates hit an all-time low. Liberals have always said that they wanted abortions to be safe, legal, and rare — well, now they are. The CDC reported in November that the abortion rate is lower than it has been at any time since 1971.
5. Veteran homelessness drops by 47 percent since 2010 according to a report by HUD.
6. The Cubs finally won a World Series. Yes, this might only be good news for people who live in Chicago, but it’s still ended the 108-year-old curse.
7. ISIS lost ground. After years of terrorizing the people of Iraq and Syria, ISIS is finally on the retreat, having lost control of Abu Ghraib, Fallujah, Ramadi, Asiriya, Hit, and among dozens of other important tactical locations. Things have turned around so much that Iraq’s largest church was able to celebrate it’s first mass in two years.
8. MIT reported that scientists made significant breakthroughs with genetically engineered immune cells that could potentially save millions of lives from cancer.
9. We got to fall in love and received countless hours of entertainment from viral video stars and internet memes including Chewbacca mom, Ken Bone, Daniel and his white Vans, and Harambe.
10. New animal and plant species were discovered this year including Rare Devil’s Orchid, New Scops owl, and the Giant Tortoise.
11. Republicans are in their strongest position in nearly a century controlling the White House, Senate, House, and state governments. This is even good news for Democrats because, on the bright side, it can’t get much worse.
12. New stem cell research allowed the first ever quadriplegic to regain the use of his upper body reported the Keck Medical Center of USC.
13. Congress did something this year and passed a major $6.3 billion mental health bill that focuses on establishing grant programs for early intervention, promotes initiatives to prevent the mentally ill from being incarcerated, and according to The Christian Science Monitor, “removes barriers to individuals accessing mental-health care and services.”
14. A study from this year shows that brain health has improved in older Americans from 2000 to 2012. The report showed new cases of dementia saw a decrease of 2.8 percentage points or 200,000 fewer people suffering from the horrible disease.
15. Trump’s win and the big GOP victories in the House ensure that millennials will have a much greater voice in the next administration.
16. Yes, some celebrities we loved died, but Betty White, Dick Van Dyke, Sidney Poitier, Cloris Leachman, and Mel Brooks are still alive.
