Reading List for 2015

Books I read in 2015:

Elizabeth Berg, Range of Motion
Vicor Hugo, Les Miserables
Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Loren D. Estleman, Frames
William H. Gass, Middle C
Molly Antopol, TheUnAmericans (stories)
J. H. van den Berg, The Changing Nature of Man
Howard Norman, The Bird Artist
Doris Lessing, Martha Quest
Yashar Kemal, Memed, My Hawk
Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend
Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage
Amanda Coplin, The Orchardist
Frederick Reuss, The Wasties
Andrew Miller, Oxygen
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
Dorothy Wickenden, Nothing Daunted
Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair


 

Simple Truths

• Police are public servants. In a democracy (at least this one), the people decide how they are to  be policed. One of the cornerstones of our democracy is that the military is commanded by civilians. The same principle applies to the police. There is a term for the alternative: police state.
• The voters of Michigan rejected Michigan's emergency manager law in November 2012. Within a few weeks the Michigan legislature passed--and Gov. Rick Snyder signed--pretty much the same law. They also attached a sham appropriation to the law to make certain that the Michigan voters couldn't overturn it again. (Apparently Michigan Republicans aren't crazy about democracy.)  With the Flint water crisis we see what can happen when democratically elected city officials are stripped of their authority and replaced by "managers" whose primary responsibilities don't seem to include the welfare of city residents.
• I agree with Kevin Drum: Donald Trump has really been a fairly mediocre businessman.  That's what the Democrats and his other opponents should be focusing on.

Corruption in Wisconsin Continues

As a follow-up to my 10/24/15 post, here is more on Scott Walker's campaign to institutionalize corruption in Wisconsin.