Should I Stay or Should I Go?

 

I was almost tempted to relay my thoughts uncensored on this fine Autumn morn, but I figured it would not at all be in my best interests at this time to have my intentions misconstrued by the Secret Service. Better to leave some things unsaid if you know what I mean.

In his answer to a question in the White House press room last week as to whether or not he would leave the office of the presidency if Joe Biden were elected by the voters on November the third, Donald Trump responded by saying “We’ll have to see”. Clearly this irresponsible jackass does not understand the Constitution, which says that the winner of the election automatically assumes the office at exactly 12 Noon on inauguration Day. For most of our history, that day fell on March the fourth. Since 1937, it has fallen on the twentieth of January - which is a jolly good thing, too. Can you imagine another one month and twelve additional days of this grotesque fool running the ship of state? No, me neither.

As predicted on this site for almost a year, the last three months of this disgusting administration will prove to be the worst constitutional nightmare in over a century-and-a-half. Come hell or High Noon, Donald Trump is determined to overthrow the United States government via means of a coup d'état that he honestly believes is going to be successful. As dumb as the man obviously is, he could not possibly be stupid enough not to know that any coup is only possible with the assistance of a corrupt and compliant military. Does he honestly believe that the joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon would possibly go in this direction? He probably does. This is going to get interesting.

The Donald is in the process of what might only be described as a "self crucifixion". This is a man so desperate to expurgate from public knowledge the scope of his crimes that he would go to such insane lengths to cover them up. The key word in that last sentence is "insane". This is a man who is playing with a deck of only four cards - all of them being jokers. Between now and January 20 will be the most dangerous period for the United States in the life on any one of you reading this.

I've lived through some extraordinary times in my life but - I've gotta tell you - this one is the icing on the cake, folks!

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg could not have come at a less fortuitous time in the American saga. Amy Coney Barrett, Trump's nominee to replace her, is a far-right zealot of any thinking person's worst nightmare. If she is approved by the senate (and I suspect that there is a slender chance that she might not be; wishful thinking, I know) she could possibly be on that bench forty years from today. Trump is planning on challenging Biden's victory with the Supreme Court, the lame argument being that all of those mail-in ballots were fraudulent. Would Barrett, Alito, Kavanagh, Gorsuch and Uncle Thomas dare to pervert that highest bench in the land by subverting the will of the American people? As I said before, this is going to get interesting.

All of this is a moot point. Joe Biden will be raising his right hand to take the presidential oath of office at 12 o'clock noon on January 20, 2021. Trump will no doubt be barricaded deep in the basement of the executive mansion at that hour. The moment Joe says, "So help me, God", he should turn to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and order him to get Trump - and everyone associated with his administration out of the building. The chairman, understanding fully well who is the boss, will comply.

Of this I have no doubt.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

 

AFTERTHOUGHT:

 

Blooger.com has forced all of their customers to switch to a new posting format that is insanely difficult to use. The above piece, which should have taken me less than an hour to write, took over two hours. I have been trying to get in touch with someone there to register my profound anger at being forced to use this new and perfectly awful format, but to no avail. Please, if any of you have the least bit of pull with the people who run this organization, show them this posting.

 

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

This has not been a good time for progressive icons. In the space of eleven months we’ve lost Elijah Cummings, John Lewis and - only yesterday - Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She's gone, and I’m afraid she won't be coming back. With her vote being the only solid liberal one on that court, her loss is irreparable. I cannot believe that our luck has gotten this bad.  

This posting has to be aborted. The people who run Blogger.com have developed a new posting format that is next-to-impossible to use. Why on earth would they switch to this new and terrible format when their old one was so easy to use? I've cracked the code. When I went to their "Help" forum and tried to send them a message with my complaint. I was switched to a page that informed me that I could talk to a tech representative for five dollars. Obviously they are being bombarded with complaints at this time. I refuse to take the bait.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY 

 

Donald Trump Wants You Dead

I'll be as brief and as subtle as is possible under these unprecedented and  trying circumstances....

Donald Trump wants you dead.

The president of the United States, in spite of the warnings of every health official in the country, in spite of every piece of scientific evidence offered thus far, wants a lot of us to die. There is no other explanation. Why - ON EARTH - would he continue to hold these mass rallies? Why would he continue to gather as many people as he can into these closed quarters? What the hell is going on here?

When asked by a local Nevada reporter if he was worried about spreading the coronavirus by holding a rally in such closed quarters, he replied that he was not worried at all due to the fact that he was a safe distance from the audience. In other words, FUCK EVERYBODY ELSE, I'LL BE FINE. This is the man that the American electorate foolishly chose as commander-in-chief four years ago. We are now the laughingstock of the planet earth. It will take at least a generation before we have anything near the respect we had even under the administration of George W. Bush. This is completely embarrassing.

 

We need to go in this unpleasant direction, folks. The president of the United States wants you dead. He wants me dead - and I am almost certain that he has never even read this blog. Why do so many of the  American people refuse to understand this? What has become of a nation who were at one time the envy of the entire world? The fact that his approval ratings still stand between thirty-five and forty percent (depending upon the day) is embarrassing and appalling.

What he is trying to do is spread the COVID-19 virus as far and as wide as he possibly can. When the proverbial substance hits the fan in November, he'll use the death and chaos as an excuse to shut the United States down - and cancel the national election. He won't be successful in his efforts but he is going to give it the old college try. Trump has always believed that he is above the law. 

MY ADVICE TO THE BIDEN PRESIDENCY:

Trump will probably refuse to remove himself from the Executive Mansion on Inauguration Day. At 12:01, if he has not vacated the residence, inform him that he has exactly twenty-nine minutes to get the hell out of the place. If, by that time, he is still there, send the army in. That's just a friendly suggestion. Pay it no mind.

Before June, it was my belief that Donald Trump was - at best - guilty of mass-criminally-negligent-homicide. I have since revised my opinion. He's guilty of mass murder. The irony is that the overwhelming majority of the nearly two-hundred-thousand dead were his supporters. Ain't that something?

In September of 2016, Michael Moore - the most prescient of men - predicted that Trump would be elected. He also predicted that many innocent Americans would die as a result of his election. We need to pay more attention to this guy. Seriously.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I originally posted this piece yesterday, the fifteenth of September. I was twelve-and-a-half sheets to the wind when I wrote it. It needed to be re-edited ever so slightly. The original comments - pro and con - were restored intact. Shit happens.

CULT 45

Mother of Jesus, pray for us....

 

Here is my ultimate constitutional crisis/nightmare:

 

It is one minute before 12 Noon on January 20, 2021, three months after Joe Biden wins the election of 2020. Donald Trump has surrounded the nation's capital with several hundred of his "special forces" in order to keep the building from being used for "unauthorized ceremonies". Simultaneously, he and Joe Biden are taking the oath of office - Biden at St. Joseph Cemetery in Greenville Delaware, at the grave of his son, Beau; Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House. The nation braces itself for the trillion dollar shit-hammer that is about to hit the fan....
 

Don't we live in interesting times?

 

As deliciously weird as the times in which we are living are, they're still quite capable of getting even weirder. Fasten your seatbelts, campers! What a long, strange trip this is gonna be.

 

Woodward and Birdbrain

You've really got to hand it to Donald Trump. At the moment you believe the decrepit old psychopath had reached the depth of depravity and incompetence, the dude lowers the bottom of the barrel even further. The latest proof was offered to us the other day by the previews of the new book by Bob Woodward called "Rage". The last book Woodward wrote regarding the Trump Mob was so unflattering to The Donald that he insisted on talking to the writer the next time he came a'knocking. He figured he could charm the guy into writing a tome that would portray them in a more positive light. Can you imagine that? He really believed that he would be able to hoodwink Bob Woodward - of all people.

It has been revealed to us through the magic of recorded sound that Donald Trump has been lying to us throughout this pandemic. He knew from the beginning the severity of the COVID-19 virus and still insisted on downplaying its danger. In the meantime he has held numerous rallies and has continued to expose his clueless cult members to infection. Two weeks after the rally he held in Tulsa, Oklahoma there was an huge outbreak in that city. One of the members of that crowd was former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain - who subsequently died. One can only guess the number of that gathering who are now dead for no other reason than that they were dumb enough to risk their lives to praise Donald Trump. People sure are strange, aren't they?

And the hideous twit held another rally yesterday, this time in Michigan. Again, most of the nitwits in attendance were unmasked. Again, some will die. Expect the number of infections in that state to go through the roof in about two weeks. Why would the president of the United States behave so recklessly during the worst pandemic in over a century? He wants the country to be riddled with as much chaos and fear  as possible come November the third. That's his motive - count on it. 

It's a weird and wonderful thing to behold these right wing politicians trying to dodge commenting on this scandal. When asked about it, John Kennedy of Louisiana said that he didn't believe in "Got'cha books". When told that it was all on tape he repeated that he didn't believe in "Got'cha books". Everyone else has been telling reporters that they haven't read the reports. It's the biggest scandal in U.S. presidential history and none of these assholes have had the time to read about it. Geniuses.

This isn't the last of it. When the dust is finally settled and we're able to have an unobstructed view of the crimes that have been committed against this doomed nation by this president and his enablers, the damage will be nearly insurmountable.

This is as big and as bad as it's ever gotten before. Trump is actively trying to steal the November election by any and all means possible. The next four months are going to be more violent than at any point since the war between the states over  century and a half ago. Donald Trump will be the instigator of that violence. Remember that since George W. Bush stupidly lifted Bill Clinton's ban on assault weapons nearly twenty years ago, a whole lot of not-too-bright Americans have been arming themselves with these dangerous guns. If Trump is defeated on November 3, expect many of these blithering nincompoops to take to the streets.

Oh, yeah, this is going to end badly.

 

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Revolution of the Heart,
The Dorothy Day Story

Dorothy Day is the most important - albeit unheralded - American of the twentieth century. She personifies what the Catholic Church should be, but, sadly, is not.

https://www.kcet.org/shows/revolution-of-the-heart-the-dorothy-day-story/episodes/revolution-of-the-heart-the-dorothy-day

Dorothy Day was the real deal.

SUGGESTED READING:

Here Is a link to a piece on this site that I wrote fourteen years ago about this remarkable and good woman.

Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker:

https://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2006/07/dorothy-day-and-catholic-w_115254184393075116.html

I love her more than words can say.

Suckers and Losers

"

My Uncle Ed Degan Attending an Antifa Rally in France
Photograph by Brother Jeff Degan

 

 "My brother was captured in Laos in September of 1974 and executed by the North Vietnamese on December 14, 1974.

 

FUCK YOU, DONALD TRUMP."

 

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean 

Above is the grave of my uncle, Edward J. Degan, Jr. at a military cemetery in France. He was killed in the Battle of the Bulge late in the evening of December 15, 1944. He was literally cut in half by a nazi tank shell. It is believed that he was the first soldier to fall in that conflict. He was five days shy of his 24th birthday when he died. This December 20 is the centennial of his birth.

 

The dude was such a loser.

Robert Kelly 1981-2010

The entire nation is reeling over the article by Jeffrey Goldman that appeared the other day in The Atlantic. According to Goldman's reporting, the president of the United States has the habit of referring to Americans who have volunteered for the military as "suckers". Those who have given their lives he refers to as "losers". At one point, he toured Arlington Cemetery with his then chief-of-staff, John Kelly. Over the grave of Kelly's son, Robert Michael, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, age twenty-nine, Trump asked him perplexed, "What was in it for him"? He could not even grasp the concept of one making the ultimate sacrifice for their country. When asked to reply to the story, John Kelly politely declined. Goldman is definitely onto something.



Clement Fluck 1922-1944

Let's take another look at some of Donald Trump's other "losers", shall we?

To the left is Clement Fluck. He was part of Patton's Second Armored Division. Originally trained for the Cavalry, Clement lost his life on August 2, 1944 less than one month after his twenty-second birthday. According to his niece, Mary Fluck, shortly before he was killed, his father, Raymond, died suddenly of a massive heart attack while getting off his night shift job as a taxi driver. When she lost Clement shortly thereafter, his mother Myrtle's world fell apart. He died fighting Adolf Hitler's nazi Germany, the most ideologically sick and racist regime in the history of the troubled human race. No wonder Trump has so much contempt for men like Clement Fluck. Look at that photo to the left. Some loser.

 

Joshua Corral
1991-2011

Here is Joshua "Chachi" Corral. He was blown up by a bomb in Afghanistan on November 18, 2011. He hadn't even reached his nineteenth birthday yet. According to the Los Angeles Times:

"Just after graduating from San Ramon Valley High School, Joshua D. Corral joined the Marine Corps, leaving behind his close-knit Bay Area hometown of Danville [California]. A little more than a year later, he was brought back home to a hero's welcome, with more than 3,000 of his neighbors somberly saluting as a motorcade bearing his casket proceeded  down the flag-draped streets."

 

He died in southern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Loser indeed.

And while we're on the subject of losers, let's take a merry old stroll through the vineyards of history:



Joe Kennedy 1915-1944

 Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. was the son of one of the richest men in America. He enlisted into the military in 1942 and became a fighter pilot. If Joe had bone spurs, he kept it from the recruiter. On August 12, 1944 he volunteered for an extremely hazardous mission. He was to guide a plane that was filled with explosives to an enemy target and parachute out of it. The plane would be operated remotely from there on. He never made it. Early into the flight it exploded with such force, that Joe's body was never recovered. He was twenty-nine. At war's end, he was set on a career in politics. That torch would be passed to his younger brother, Jack. We all know the rest of the story. Joe Kennedy was an imperfect man, but he was no loser.



Quentin Roosevelt
1897-1918

The youngest son of Theodore Roosevelt, Quentin enlisted at the start of America's involvement in the First World War. A fighter pilot, he was shot down over German territory on July 14, 1918. He was twenty. What a loser!

Those were just a few examples of Donald Trump's "losers". How a man of such diseased character and intellect could possibly be calling the White House "home" will be one of the puzzles that will haunt the American imagination for generations.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED READING:

Here is a link to the Article by Jeffrey Goldman of the Atlantic that has so outraged all people with the IQ higher than a rancid bag of moldy doorknobs:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR0EvELB8HqsGl_eHjgzHzRnQaLunM1ZlXLTUpjApCvZbAn7L1cbp7pXxPc

Happy reading, campers!







An Era Wasted

Isn't he amusing?

From the moment this horrible, incompetent and incurious man stepped his foot on the campaign trail in June of 2015, he began by defaming our gentle neighbors to the south as murderers and rapists. Nice!

 

Since that time it is documented that he has told over TWENTY-THOUSAND LIES to the American people.

 

Since February of this year - as of this writing - over ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE thousand of our fellow citizens are dead to the sheer imbecility of him and his administration.

 

He is a traitor whose campaign colluded with the agents of a hostile foreign government. That was proven this week from a bi-partisan investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee. They're no-doubt colluding at this very moment. Vladimir Putin wants Donald Trump reelected on November the third. 

 

Many of the men who worked the hardest for him during the campaign of 2016 have either been convicted or indicted on serious crimes. To tell you the truth, I've lost count of the total number. Of this you may be completely certain: many more are on the way - including, I have no doubt, members of his own beloved family. 

He has been accused by at least twenty different women of rape and sexual assault over the years, one of whom was thirteen-years-old at the time of the attack. Jeffrey Epstein was a convenient pal to have around if you were a hard core pervert. When I first saw her videotaped statement four yeas ago, I didn't know what to believe. Given all I've learned since then, I believe her today. She has since withdrawn her charges and has gone into hiding due to continuous death threats.

I, Donald J. Trump, do solemnly swear

That I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States;

And will, to the best of my ability,

preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Unites States

So help me God

 

Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2017

Since June he has installed a corrupt postmaster general who is trying to destroy the United States Postal Service by making it difficult for people to cast their precious ballots by mail - during the worst pandemic in over a century. It is also their stated dream to turn our mail service - which is guaranteed by the United States Constitution - over to private industry. Attempting to subvert anything that is enshrined in our constitution is treason. Anything.

He has repeatedly undermined the health of the public by holding rallies where his half-witted followers are not obliged to wear face masks in order to protect them from the COVID-19 virus. Ten days after he held one in Tulsa, Oklahoma, many people who attended that event began to show symptoms of the illness. Some of them even died - including longtime Republican operative and onetime presidential candidate Herman Cain. He continues to hold these events - as he did two days ago - in front of an audience that included a number of veterans of the second world war, not one of whom was under the age of ninety-three. 

FUN FACT: Herman Cain was not mentioned once, even in passing, during last week's four-day Republican National Convention. Can you imagine? Sure you can.

Bevus and Butthead: The Movie

And his kids??? His two half-witted sons, Uday an Qusay - I mean Donald Jr. and Eric - are two of the most reprehensible First Sons in the history of presidential offspring. The both of them have been getting even richer at the taxpayer's expense, and both are under investigation by the Southern District of New York. I do hope that Cyrus Vance doesn't bring any charges against the two of them until after January 20, 2021 when they are unable to benefit from a pardon from Daddy. Ivanka Trump has committed at least four serious crimes by tying up her "product" with government business. And as far as Jared Kirshner is concerned, I don't think I really need to tell you what a complete screw-up he has turned out to be. I'll be gentle and spare the poor fool today.

He suggested that people inject bleach into themselves in order to combat the coronavirus. He actually suggested that human beings poison themselves. The amazing thing is that his Evangelical base is still right behind him.

The problem with so many "Christians" is that they are under the illusion that Jesus Christ is as mean and as stupid as they are.

The very fact that so many "people of God" still support this psychopath and common pervert is amazing to me. We need to move beyond this, folks. Seriously. If this jackass is allowed another term, this country is finished.

This madness needs to end now. If this insanity is allowed to continue, America's only greatness will be in its past. This is the most insane and disgusting family ever to occupy the Executive Mansion. If you need anymore proof of how completely mad and unhinged they are, then you're not paying attention. Wake up.
`
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

Facebook's Problem With Me

Lenny Bruce and friends, San Francisco City Hall, 1960

 Facebook informs me that a photograph I posted early this morning didn't conform to their "community standards" and that I am off to the Facebook slammer for 30 days. This is the second time I've been banned from that social media outlet. The first time was about seven years ago when I posted a link to a piece I wrote that contained a photograph of Adolf Hitler on the main title. The article inside the cover was quite anti-nazi. Why would they feel the need to remove something like that? What gives?

For the record, everything I've ever written is decidedly anti-nazi - whether I mention them by name or not. The nice folks over at Spell-Check are informing me that "nazi" should be capitalized. I never capitalize that word. They're also always nagging me that "klan" should be capitalized. I never capitalize that word either. I just thought I'd put that out there.
 

What I posted early this morning was a Lenny Bruce album cover from 1960. The photo is of Lenny snuggled between two attractive women - one Asian and one Black. Behind them are five  Black gentlemen dressed in kkk robes.

 

The whole purpose of the picture is to mock the klan in general and racism in particular. Lenny (who was a Jew, by the way) obviously would never have  treated them with anything but disrespect.

 

The record is called "Togetherness". It is also known as "I'm Not A Nut - Elect Me". Take a look at the image at the top of this piece and tell me if you're offended.

 

In 2020, fifty-four years after his unacceptably brief life on this planet came to an end, Lenny Bruce is still controversial. Can you beat that?

Another example they gave of the "hate speech" that I have been spouting was a post I made yesterday where I referred to the president of the United States of America as, "a fucking idiot".

Guilty as charged.

In the five years and three months since the hideous old freak announced his candidacy for the presidency, I have referred to Donald Trump as a "fucking idiot" hundreds of times on Facebook and on this site. This cannot be an exaggeration. The man so positively reeks of fucking idiocy that the description is rather impossible to avoid. Some seriously strange things are going on in America today. Strange days indeed.

Why - all of the sudden - is it a crime to refer to The Donald as a "fucking idiot" on Facebook? What the heck is going on here? Calling Trump "a fucking idiot" is part of my job description.

Zuckerberg

Facebook's founder and CEO is a guy named Mark Zuckerberg. Why on earth is he so willing to shill for Trump and Putin? Is it my imagination? Perhaps. But I need to know - we all need to know - just what is behind this latest crackdown on people like me who lean (ever-so-slightly, I assure you, dear reader) to the left. Social media is a fine way of keeping up with old friends - that is the only reason I ever got involved with it; it's also a dandy way to get one's message out there (if, indeed, one has a message that needs getting out). But I believe the time is long overdue that we take a serious look at My Space as a way of touching base. Just a thought.

So it's off to the Facebook slammer for me. Somebody bake me a cake with a file in it!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

AFTERTHOUGHT 2:52 AM, 9/2/20

SUGGESTED READING:

Black Lives Matter in Goshen, NY
from The Rant

https://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2020/06/black-lives-matter-in-goshen-ny.html

I wrote this one back in June. It deserves a reprise, I think. As my late uncle Jerry Degan would say, "Not too shabby!"