2017 was, in a word, trumpmultuous.

We saw the exposure of widespread sexual misconduct allegations among elected leaders. We saw people grapple with the life-altering impacts of natural disasters around the world, and the Packers not making the playoffs.

But now the year comes to an end, and its moments of upheaval settle and cement themselves into the fabric of our history. It is during this time that we should reflect and imagine how the pieces of ourselves — those gained and lost — will impact us in the coming year and beyond.

So here are my top 5 stories for 2017. They are:

1. White Nationalist Elected New President

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Jan. 20, outlining his vision of a new national populism and reiterating the same “America First” mantra that delivered the White House to him during the 2016 election.

After months on the campaign trail marked by partisan division and deep skepticism from his critics, Trump told thousands in the nation’s capital that his agenda was for every American — even as protesters demonstrated against him elsewhere in Washington, D.C., including some who clashed with police hours later. Horse Droppings.

2. The Mueller Investigation

Bowing to public and congressional pressure, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller in May as a special counsel to conduct the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

More than five months later, Mueller’s office indicted President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his longtime business associate Rick Gates on 12 charges, including money laundering, being an unregistered foreign agent and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.

The special counsel’s office also announced that day that it had struck a cooperation agreement with former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, who secretly pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians.

In early December, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe. Dodo about to hit the fan soon.

3. The Opioid

Epidemic

In August, President Trump declared America’s opioid epidemic a national emergency.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers recently reported that the epidemic’s true cost in 2015 was $504 billion — more than six times the most recent estimate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in late October that illegal, lab-made fentanyl contributed to the death of at least half of fatal opioid overdoses in 2016, underscoring how deadly the epidemic has become in recent years.

Here in Milwaukee, the Task Force on opioid epidemic has not met in some time. Clearly they done give a rats ass about the issue.

4. The Devastating Hurricane Season

A hurricane season unlike any other came to a close in December after causing billions of dollars in damages, devastating those who were impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria when they plowed through southeast Texas, Florida and the Caribbean.

Harvey, a Category 3 storm, drenched southeast Texas in late August with 1 million gallons of water per person in the region, according to The Associated Press. The storm caused historic flooding in Houston, where some downtown areas were knee-deep in water and portions of highways were shut down with 10 feet of water.

Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Irma ravaged Florida, devastating the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm before weakening. The storm also lead to the deaths of 12 patients at a Hollywood, Florida, nursing home. Those fatalities have since been ruled a homicide, officials said.

And at the end of September, the Category 4 Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in almost a century, steamrolled through the island, annihilating homes, knocking out the entire power grid and leaving many without electricity for months.

Maria’s aftermath also raised concerns about the relationship between Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the small Montana energy firm that was helping Puerto Rico to rebuild its power grid, Whitefish Energy Holdings.

The island canceled its $300 million contract with the company in October after The Washington Post reported, among other things, that the company only had only two full-time employees when the storm made landfall. As for TRUMP, e visited Puerto Rico to hand out Downey tissues. Can you say Marty Cone!

5. North Korea: Rocket Man Vs. Orange Nut

American tensions with North Korea intensified rapidly since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in late January, as leader Kim Jong Un made no secret that his scientists are working on a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the U.S.

The situation has become so dire that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked China — Pyongyang’s neighbor and most powerful ally — to “use their influence to convince or compel North Korea to rethink its strategic calculus.”

The regime’s actions has led Trump and his administration to ratchet up the rhetoric, with the president in August promising “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if North Korea continues to threaten the U.S. Trump also disparaged the North Korean leader as a “rocket man” during his first address to the United Nations.

There you are. My top 5 for 2017. I hope and pray you all have a great 2018 and keep reading the Spanish Journal for the latest on our zany world.