Craig's Notable Cool Things List of 2016

Cool Things of 2016 – Numbered, not ranked. 

1. Oklahoma Senator Kyle Loveless’attempt to reform Oklahoma’s asset forfeiture laws.
2. Oklahomans passed a state question to allow strong beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores.
3. Oregon and California allowed over the counter birth control for women without a prescription.
4. Lady Gaga sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl 50. Best since Whitney Houston.
5. On April 12th, Miroslav Volf, who wrote the book "“Allah: A Christian Response," spoke at Oklahoma Christian University about the Christians and Muslims worshipping the same God, understood differently.
6. A study from the National Foundation for American Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Arlington, Va., was published demonstrating that immigrants started more than half of the current crop of U.S. based startups valued at $1 billion or more.
7. Palestinians completed a delicate restoration project at the Church of the Nativity, giving a much-needed face-lift to one of Christianity’s holiest sites.
8. Mitt Romney delivered a full throated condemnation of Donald Trump’s candidacy for president saying, “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”
9. WikiLeaks exposed the Democratic Party for its rigged primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
10. Parents of a toddler horrifically injured by a Georgia SWAT drug raid gone wrong received $3.6 million in damages.
11. Joe Walsh pulled out of the Republican Convention saying he was misled.
12. I was a presidential elector in 2016 for the Oklahoma Libertarian Party.
13. Donald Trump, when asked if he would support the eventual winner of the GOP presidential primary refused saying, "No, I won’t. I have been treated very unfairly."
14. I stood at the memorial for Steve Prefontaine called “Pre’s Rock” in Eugene, Oregon.
15. My wife and I drove ‘the one’ from Oregon to San Francisco.
16. I participated in the OKC Gay Pride Parade with the Oklahoma Libertarian Party.
17. Republican Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signed a bill that untangling hair braiders from unnecessary regulations.
18. “Tears for Fears” announced they are working on a new album for the first time since 2004.
19. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan-R, Wisconsin, called out Donald Trump, his party’s nominee for espousing speech that was the “textbook definition of a racist comment.”
20. Medical marijuana got enough signatures to be placed on the ballot in Oklahoma in 2018.
21. The Summer Olympics and Usain Bolt in particular.
22. Religious zealot and Edmond native Paul Blair was defeated in the primary in his hometown of Edmond, Oklahoma.
23. My wife and I participated in the Oklahoma City “Black Lives Matter” March for Peace and Justice.
24. The International Association of Fire Fighters union refused to endorse Clinton or Trump.
25. My wife and I saw the Alan Parson’s Project live in concert.
26. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series.
27. A $22 million judgement was awarded by a federal jury to Nathson Fields who spent 18 years in prison, including 12 of those years on death row, falsely convicted of murder through corrupt prosecution and judges in Chicago.
28. A 40-year-old Texas man named Eh Wah, a refugee from Burma who became a U.S. citizen more than a decade ago, had $53,000 stolen from him by Muskogee County deputies who falsely charged him with crimes. Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge dropped both the civil and criminal charges against Eh Wah and returned all of his money after his story became a focus of the Washington Post.
29. The stock market his all-time highs, called the “Trump Rally.”
30. Carl Albert High School Titans are once again the Class 5A Champions in football.