Week One with Trump

• Give Trump a chance?  Of course I am.  So far not so good.
• The Religious Right's Brigade of Hate continues to grow.  Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Franklin Graham.  This week I add Matt Walsh.  It's important to keep in mind that the Religious Right (note that I eschew the term Christian Right) has little to do with Christianity. It is Big Business. Some people have gotten very rich in that industry, which is why they are so comfortable with Trump.
• Post-Women's-March Reactions: I didn't participate in the march but my daughter and granddaughter were in the Chicago march. From what I've seen on Facebook among my Trump-supporting friends, their objections seem to be that (1) a few of the million or more signs were offensive and (2) there was some litter left behind. Nice try.
• Oh...and some of the signs contained the word "pussy".  Well, if you are offended by a sign which is simply quoting the leader of the free world, then maybe the problem isn't with the sign.
• One final review.  When Barack Obama took office, the Dow Industrials were at about 8,000. When he left, it was approaching 20,000.
• Another review: the number of abortions pretty much increased every year of Reagan's presidency (~1.3 million per year according to CDC). From 2009 to 2013 they steadily decreased from 789,000 to 664,000.

First Post of Randomness in 2017

• Barack Obama is the best president of my lifetime. (There presidents in my lifetime haven't been greatest, so maybe the bar is low.)  I wish he had been even better in many ways, but in terms of policy, the way he conducted himself, and what he was able to accomplish with the worst Congress of my lifetime, the contest isn't really that close.
• If you're on Facebook or Twitter or other social media, a good rule of thumb is to ignore any meme that comes from a source that has the word "Patriot" in its name.  It is probably worthless and a lie. Don't waste your time.
• How many Goldman Sachs people is Trump going to appoint?  So glad he is thinking about the little guy like he promised. 
• Unlike some of my progressive comrades, I don't have any illusions that Hillary Clinton didn't lose the election fair and square.  One bone of contention I have, however, is with this whole concocted notion that the media was in Clinton's pocket.  Unlike (I assume) most of my conservative non-comrades, I actually read The New York Times every day, and I can attest without reservation that their coverage of Hillary was relentlessly negative.

Reading List for 2016

Okay, for whatever reason I always feel compelled to post a list of the books I've read the previous year. Here's my list for 2016:

Frank Herbert, Dune

Wallace Stegner, The Spectator Bird

Elena Ferrante, The Story of a New Name

Sarah Hall, Daughters of the North (originally published as The Carhullan Army)

Mary Gaitskill, Veronica

Helen Oyeyemi, Boy, Snow, Bird

Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master’s Son

Paul Harding, Tinkers (second reading)

Elena Ferrante, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Jay Atkinson, Ice Time: A Tale of Fathers, Sons, and Hometown Heroes

Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn

Nell Zink, The Wallcreeper

Doris Lessing, A Ripple from the Storm

Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child

Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You

Ron Rash, The Cove

Dava Sobel, Galileo’s Daughter

Doris Lessing, Landlocked (second reading)

Roxane Gay, An Untamed State

Doris Lessing, The Four-Gated City

William Lychack, The Architect of Flowers

I am glad that I read every single one of them!