POST #823: Random Observations

A few years ago at Franklin D. Roosevelt's lifelong home
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The following are a collection of disjointed, unrelated and unhinged (if you prefer) that I had scribbled on the backs of various envelopes or out on the internet.

 

1. A Half-hearted prophecy:

 

I posted this on the NY Times website nearly a year before the election of Donald Trump. Although at the time I viewed his presidency as improbable, I didn't dismiss the possibility outright. After all, I was a citizen of Indiot Nation.

 

Trump is merely sucking up the most oxygen i...n the clown tent. I really don't believe that he will be nominated at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Then again, that's what I said thirty-five years ago regarding a feeble-minded, washed-up "B" movie star; I said the same thing twenty years later about a half-witted frat boy from Crawford, Texas. I had better check myself. With the United States as seriously dumbed-down as it has become during the last four decades, it's probably a good rule of thumb not to dismiss the possibility of something that at one time would have been seen as impossible - or at least highly improbable. Expect the unexpected; foresee the unforeseeable. Yeah, American politics has gotten that weird. They're coming to take us away. HA! HA! HEE! HEE!

 

Donald Trump has thrown a nasty little monkey wrench into the electoral process to be sure. A half century ago, no one in his or her right mind would have taken a Trump candidacy seriously. It's a different world. Trump is the price that the GOP is forcibly paying for spending the last forty years pandering to a constituency of extremists, imbeciles and crazy people. The chickens have come home to roost - with a vengeance, baby!

 

2. Good Old Joe Biden

 

I heard on CBS News Radio in New York City this morning that Joe Biden is asking close confidants if they think he will be too old to run for the presidency in 2020.

 

Dear Joe,

 

I wish you had gone for the Big Prize during the primaries two years ago. You stepped aside, I'm sure, because you knew that the very real possibility of a woman being elected as chief-executive was too big a thing to stand in the way of. It was an honorable thing you did, and you have to be admired for that completely selfless act. As things unfortunately turned out, Hillary Clinton turned out to be the worst nominee the Democrats coughed up since Mike Dukakis thirty years ago. I mean, she couldn't beat Donald Trump! That is an achievement in itself if you think about it for a minute. Had you decided to run then, I have no doubt you would have received the nomination and that you would have gone on to easily clean Donald Trump's clock.

That being said, you will be seventy-eight on Inauguration Day 2021. Should you be re-elected in 2424, you'll be eighty-six when your second term expires on January 20, 2029. If you decide to run in two years and you are able to get the nomination, I'll support you with everything I've got; but I think you should reconsider. You had thirty-six years as a successful senator from Delaware - and,  on top of that, another eight years as vice-president. Think it over, Joe.

Gee, I hope Joe Biden reads this blog.

3. Something's Gotta Give

At this moment in Washington, Robert Mueller's courtroom has been completely cleared of any spectators for what is being described as "a secret grand jury hearing". Not only has the courtroom been emptied, the entire floor has been sealed air-tight.

The proverbial substance is about to hit the fan; mark my words, girls and boys. And just in time for the holiday, too!

4. All American Dictatorships:

Although the recent election in Wisconsin saw more of the citizens of hat state voting Democratic, thanks to shameless gerrymandering, more republicans were elected to the statehouse. And although key state offices had been taken by the Dems, outgoing governor Scott Walker has just passed a bunch of laws that severely restrict the power of the new governor. This is just the sort of thing we should have suspected Walker would try to pull off. From the beginning of his political career, the guy has proven himself to be as corrupt as the nights are long.

Something similar is also happening in the state of Michigan. What's been happening for the last forty years is that our freedoms have been chiseled away from the rock of what used to be  a fairly robust democracy at such a glacial pace that very few people have been  aware enough to take notice of it. Wisconsin and Michigan are merely laboratories of the authoritarian future that these clowns have in store for all of us.

Buddy Clark

5. Chill on the "Cold Outside"

There is now a movement to have Baby, It's Cold Outside banned forever from America's airwaves. The tune was written seventy-plus years ago by Frank Loesser. It was first recorded in 1949 as a duet by the singers Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark. Some are today implying that the lyrics are about date rape. It's not. Although it has never been one my favorites, it never translated to me to mean something as vile as that. I believe that it would not have been such a big hit on American airwaves if that had been the case. It's just a mediocre little ditty from a completely different time. Chill.

6. And in Conclusion....

The Trump Administration has been a rolling constitutional crisis since 12 noon on January 20, 2017. We're in for the worst of it yet. The Donald's babbling Tweet storms (a total of seven yesterday alone) are proof that the man is losing whatever slender hold on reality he may have already had. I've said this so many times that it's become a catchphrase with me. Forgive me, but I need to repeat myself:

This is going to end badly.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED LISTENING:

Baby, It's Cold Outside
by Buddy Clark and Dinah Shore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XTDzgKdHAY

Seriously, I think some folks are overreacting.