Meanwhile, Outside...

While the republicans in the United States Senate decide on how many people will lose their health insurance and thus how many American citizens will die because of it (hey, I guess there IS a death panel after all!), we still have to contend with the planet's rising temperatures.

And so from the scientists at NOAA:

Overall, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2017 was 0.82°C (1.48°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F) and the third highest June temperature in the 138-year record, behind 2016 (+0.92°C / +1.66°F) and 2015 (+0.89°C / +1.60). June 2017 marks the 41st consecutive June and the 390th consecutive month with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average.

And:

The first six months of 2017 have each ranked among the top three warmest months on record, giving way to the second highest January–June period in the 138-year record at 0.91°C (1.64°F) above the 20th century average of 13.5°C (56.3°F), behind the record year of 2016 by 0.16°C (0.29°F), but ahead of 2015 by 0.05°C (0.09°F).

That's what the science says.

The current occupant of the Oval Office, however, is on record calling it all a hoax and our junior senator from Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey, voted against a resolution that said that "human activity significantly contributes to climate change."

And then there this:

President Donald Trump plans to nominate his longtime campaign aide Sam Clovis to head science at the US Department of Agriculture, despite the fact that Clovis lacks a background in science and a congressional rule maintains that the role must be filled "from among distinguished scientists."

Clovis, who has been serving as senior White House adviser to the USDA since Trump took office, has a background as an economics professor and a former talk radio host, but he has no formal background in the hard sciences. The White House announced Trump's plans to nominate Clovis Wednesday night.

And yet, it's still getting warmer out there.

That's what the science says.