God Bless You, Ms. Hutchinson

 

"I'm the fucking president of the United States. Take me up to the capitol - NOW"

Donald J. Trump, 6 January 2021

The moving pictures and audio of Cassidy Hutchinson's voice and image will still be watched and listened to a century from now, long after she enters eternity. The fact that this courageous young woman was born as recently as 1997 stuns credulity. The fact that she has more courage in the fingers of her right hand than all of the dirty old men above her pay grade - combined - is a harbinger of things that will be. The twenty-first century will be remembered as the century of the woman. Get used to the idea, guys - and move the hell over. 

During the period between the election of 2016 and the inauguration of 2017, whenever the topic of the new president-elect came up, I had a stock line:

"Folks, this is going to end very, very badly, and we'll just leave it at that."

But my bleakest premonitions paled when compared to the reality of the situation.

Trump knew damned well that the "mags" (metal detectors) were preventing a whole lot of armed and dangerous people from getting onto the ellipse across from the White House's southern portico. He wanted those metal detectors turned off and the posse allowed into the event. His reasoning was thus:

"They're not here to hurt me." 

Who exactly they were there to hurt he never made quite clear. Presumably he was referring to vice-President Mike Pense. 

According to Ms. Hutchinson, she learned from an eyewitness that when the driver of the vehicle that was whisking the soon-to-be- former president away from the event refused (for obvious security reasons) to drive him to the foot of the capitol building, Trump tried to grab the wheel of the vehicle. When he was firmly rebuffed, he grabbed the driver by the throat.

This was not the only juicy tidbit that was learned during the surprise hearing on Tuesday. On December 1, 2020, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, When Trump got word that Attorney General Bill had given an interview with the Associated Press that there was no evidence of voter fraud, he became so enraged that he took a plate of food on the dining room table and hurled it against the wall. Walking into the dining room immediately following this incident, she noticed katsup dripping from the wall and a cracked porcelain plate on the floor. Yummy.  She also testified that he had exhibited several similar tantrums during her tenure in the West Wing.

Cassidy also testified that many of the president's men - including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump's personal attorney Rudy Guiliani - informed her on January 5 that the following day would be a violent one.

Except for the vilest MAGA-brained halfwits, Donald Trump's once-robust support among Republicans is on the wane. It's a cinch that, by summer's end, Trump will be holed up inside of his bunker in Mari-largo, facing certain multi-felony criminal indictments. Some are referring to the January 6 hearings as a great national tragedy. I disagree. The tragedy is that this corrupt and unhinged sociopath was ever sent to the executive mansion to begin with. 

Hi ho, everybody. Hi ho.

Tom Degan, Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Just in case you missed it, here's a YouTube link to view Cassidy Hutchison's historic testimony on June 28:

(1) Former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson testifies during Jan. 6 hearing — 6/23/2022 - YouTube

This makes John Dean's 1973 "bombshell" testimony look low rent. Aren't these amazing times?

AFTERTHOUGHT, 8:40 PM:

FUN FACT: During the pre-hearing video depositions, disgraced former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn was asked by Representative Liz Cheney whether or not a peaceful transition of power was constitutional. Mike Flynn pleaded the Fifth. Ain't that something?

What's Up with The Supremes?

I was all set to write a piece today on the Supreme Court's overturing a New York law that had been on the books for one-hundred and eleven years that forbade people in the Big Apple from carrying concealed weapons on their persons out in the open. As bad as the homicide rate from gunshot wounds are at the moment in merrie olde Manhattan, they're about to go through the fucking roof. The current makeup of that body of justices is further proof that the extreme right wing is ruining this country. New Yok State - where I live, by the way - is about to turn into the Wild West Side. This slide into extremist insanity has got to be ended. 

Now About the Repeal of Roe V. Wade:

I have to confess, in January of 1973, when Roe v. Wade was made the law of the land, I was a fourteen-year-old Catholic school boy attending St. John The Evangelist School, in Goshen, NY.  I had it drummed into my psyche what a horrible thing the new law was. As the years transpired, I came to understand the struggle of the women's movement more and more. My opinion eventually evolved to the idea that women should not have abortions (which is easy for me to say - as a man). One day, a close friend of mine asked me to drive her to a clinic where she could have the procedure. I told her that my conscience wouldn't allow me to do it. 

Powell

"I thought that you were pro-abortion", she said.

"No, ma'am", I replied, "I'm pro-choice - there's a difference."

The proponents of the overturning of Roe v Wade are telling us that it was a political discission made by a bunch of frightened justices who were terrified of going against the tenor of the times. No one will ever be able to convince me that Justice Louis Powell - the most conservative of justices - was cowered into voting with the left wing mob. He knew that the times were changing and he was determined to change with them. 

The repeal of Roe v Wade will create more problems than it solves. This is not going to end well. I'm just saying.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here's Joe Biden addressing the repeal of Roe v Wade today:

(9) President Biden addresses SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade - YouTube

This is not a good thing, campers.

AFTERTHOUGHT, 8:19 PM:

Peoplr are wondering who leaked the early draft of this decision a couple of weeks ago. It was Ginni Thomas. Hello???

Post #1,078: Random Observations

 

The following are a series of unrelated topics that are loaded, I believe, with plenty of reason but seriously lacking in rhyme. So sue me.

1. It Tolls For Thee

For any politics junkie. the January 6 hearings are the tasty icing on a perfectly rancid and moldy cake.  I always knew that we would come to this day, but I'm only surprised that it didn't happen sooner. Somewhere, I am almost certain, Dick Nixon must be wearing a smile of infinite and eternal serenity. No longer will the old bastard bear the stigma of being at the helm of the most criminal presidential administration in American history. His heirs must be breathing a prolonged sigh of relief as well. His many, well--documented flaws aside, Nixon was perfectly capable of being an able and visionary statesman - a trait that Donald Trump never possessed on his best days. Compared to The Donald, The Trickster is starting to look better and better. It was revealed yesterday that Trump and Rudy Guiliani terrified an honest and humble and poll worker from Georgia - and her mother and grandmother - with a barrage of threats and intimidation. Nixon never would have stooped as low as that.

2. Her Majesty's a Pretty Nice Girl

I don't spend too much time thinking about Queen Elizabeth. In the sixteen years that I've been writing this site, I don't think that I've even mentioned her once. Had I been a British subject, I'm almost certain that I would have been a Republican (which has an entirely different meaning over there, look it up). But given all of the embarrassing scandals that have been dredged up in recent years by Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, it's a fairly easy bet to assume that none of this has been easy on the poor woman. Her seventieth jubilee - which even I was celebrating (in a lowkey way, of course) - has been marred by the idiocy of her offspring. The Queen recently turned ninety-six; she doesn't need this. Would someone across the pond please tell Andy, Harry and Meghan to keep their profiles as low as possible - at least until the end of the year? Thanks.

3. The Ambition of Mike Pense 

In  the previous piece (June 17) I stated that, because of his heroic behavior on January 6, 2021, I would never again utter a critical word against Mike Pense. I need to take a temporary reprieve from that promise. Mike has a lot of useful information that he could share with the January 6 committee, and yet he refuses to testify. Why? Because he is under the deluded impression that he is going to be the GOP nominee in two years; aint that a scream? Someone from withing the Republican party apparatus needs to sit Pense down and explain a few unavoidable realities to him: It's never going to happen so he might as well put the idea out of his mind. He is not testifying because he refuses to anger the half-witted "base" that comprises the followers of Donald Trump. And if Trump is still able to run in the primaries two years from now, Pense's campaign will be as dead as a rusty doornail at the starting gate. Do the right thing and testify, Mike, you'll look better in history. You've already reached the governor's mansion in Indiana and the vice-presidency. Don't let blind ambition get the better of you. Seriously.

So there you have it, kiddies, a few random notes from the global train wreck of 2022. Isn't this an amazing time to be alive?

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here's a YouTube link to watch Day Four of yesterday's January 6 hearing - just in case you missed it:

(3) Watch: Day 4 of Jan. 6 committee hearings | AP News - YouTube 

Strange days indeed!

AFTERTHOUGHT, 6:52 PM:

One of the legacies of the era of Donald Trump is the new reality that it is perfectly acceptable now to say the word "bullshit" on television. 

Lenny Bruce would be amused.

Watergate Revisioned

Hey, Dick! Can you believe these stupid fucking Americans?

 

"An undermining of democracy such as we have never seen by any president in American history."

Carl Bernstein, CNN, June 17, 2022

FUN FACT: Carl wasn't talking about Dick Nixon.

Put these facts into your pipe and smoke them. Election years past:

During the war of 1812, the United States had a peaceful transfer of power. In 1861, on the eve of a bloody civil war that would ultimately claim six-hundred thousand American lives, the United States had as peaceful transfer of power. In 1865, while that war between the states was still raging, America had a peaceful transfer of power. In 1933, during the height of the worst economic crisis in its history, America had a peaceful transfer of power. In 1969, amid the worst civil unrest in any living person's memory, America had a peaceful transfer of power. 

Consider this if you will:

In January of 2021, for the first time in our two-hundred and forty-five year history, America did not have a peaceful transfer of power. Ain't that somethin'? Fifty years ago today, burglars broke into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel and office complex in Washington DC. I'm tempted to say that in 1972 I was a normal and average American teenaged boy - but that would be misleading. I was never "normal". Not then. Not now. I never have quite fit in with "normal people" and I'm not about to start now. I'm drifting off subject; forgive me.

Although I was pretty much a news junkie - even at that early age - I didn't pay much attention to the "Watergate affair" in the summer of 1972. Nobody did. The only two reporters in the country who believed that the story had any merit were two young rookie hotshots from the Wahington Post named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. It wasn't until the autumn when Walter Cronkite of CBS News picked up the story that the rest of the nation started paying any attention to it. It was only then that the raging train of Watergate became unstoppable. It came too late to effect Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, but the momentum led to his resignation in disgrace less than two years later.

When this scandal started to unfurl a year-and-a-half ago, I predicted that the real heroes involved would all be Republicans. In Watergate the heroic figures were Barry Goldwater, Howard Baker, and even (to an extent) John Dean. If you had told me than that the champions of democracy would turn out to be Mike Pense and Liz Cheney I would have said, "Have another sip". Liz risked her political career. Mike risked his life. God bless the both of them. I'll never again write another critical word against either of them. Their political careers are effectively over, so not criticizing either of them will be a fairly easy endeavor.

Take all of the political scandals of the last one-hundred years and wrap them up neatly in bunch with ribbons and bows:

Teapot Dome

Sherman Adams

Watergate

Iran Contra

Monica Lewinsky

Combined they are not half as devastating as what Donald Trump and his henchmen attempted on January 6, 2021. Compared to the Trump Mob, the Nixon Gang are starting to look like The Little Rascals. This is as bad as it's ever gotten and (Please Lord) is ever going to get. January 6, 2021 is the new standard by which all future political scandals will be measured. And just this week this scandal got bigger than anyone could believe it could get. Since the November 2020 election, Trump has been soliciting donations from his "base" (most of whom are of a moderate-to-low income) enticing them to donate what little money they have into a "fund" that will combat the "stolen" election. No such fund ever existed. All of the cash went to line the pockets of Donald Trump and his cronies - and his hotels. They ended up pocketing a quarter of a billion dollars. If you don't believe that this is the worst political scandal in American history then you might as well go back to sleep. This is bad, campers!

Donald Trump attempted to overthrow American democracy in 2021 and - if the Republicans are stupid enough to renominate him - he has every intention of doing it again in 2024. 

Be vigilant for our country.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING: 

Here is a link to watch Woodward and Bernstein's appearance on CNN this morning:

(1) Bernstein: Trump is ‘first seditious President of the United States’ - YouTube 

SUGGESTED READING:

All The President's Men

by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

Ticking....Ticking....

 

Ratting Out Daddy

The investigative hearings into the near-fall of democracy in America commenced in Washington last night. FOX Noise ignored the evening by running Tucker Carlson's program minus the commercial advertising. They were worried that, during any break, the viewers would - out of curiosity - switch the channel to see what was happening on one of the other news outlets. Think about that: Fox would rather lose advertising revenue than to expose its idiotic viewers to the truth. Early this morning, the mindless chuckleheads on Fox and Friends dismissed the entire evening as nothing but cheap, political propaganda. Nothing new was learned, they nold us. Despite the fact of videotaped testimony against Trump from his own Attorney General, from his own son-in-law - and from his own daughter. I would imagine the Thanksgiving dinner table at casa de Trump will be just a tad awkward this November. Ivanka's inheritance - whatever's left of it - went into the shit hole last night.

Yes, we do live in such deliciously weird times, my friends. Even during the perverse insanity of the Bush 43 years, I never dreamed that things would get quite this strange. You know that things have taken a turn for the worse when you find yourselves nostalgic for the village idiot of Crawford, Texas. And to think that there is a 50/50 possibility that Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee and victor in the 2024 election. If that is indeed the case then, get used to living in a nation in permanent decline. 

Over the next four weeks, the hearings will continue. Keep your eyes wide and - FOR PETE'S SAKE - turn off Fox Noise. Turn it off, and never turn it on again. They're lying to you. They have been lying to you for over a quarter of a century. For the first time in our history, we did not have a peaceful transfer of power. Think about that.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here is a link to watch last evening's festivities on YouTube courtesy of the nice folks at CBS News:

(24) House Jan. 6 committee holds first of several public hearings on Capitol riot | June 9 - YouTube

Wasn't that a time?

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I know that this is way off topic, but it needs to be noted. Today was the centennial of the birth of Judy Garland. She was as good as they get. Everyone loved Judy Garland - except Judy Garland. God rest her soul.

FOX NOOSE TOMORROW

News for lazy and ignorant white people

 "This instrument [Television] can teach, it can illuminate, yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is nothing more than wires and lights in a box."

Edward R. Murrow, 1958. 

Historic hearings will be televised tomorrow night investigating into exactly who was responsible for the attempted overthrow of democracy in America seventeen months and two days ago. All of the network and cable news outlets will be covering the event which commences tomorrow night at eight 'clock eastern time - all but one. If you're the least bit curious to learn about the attempted coup of January 6, 2021, don't even bother tuning into the FOX Noise channel. You see, for obvious reasons, they have decided not to cover what is the most important public hearing since the inquest into the Watergate affair nearly half a century ago. The reason for this is the fact that more than a few of the "personalities" on Fox are implicated in some of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that went down on that infamous day. Perhaps even the boss, Rupert Murdoch, had a hand in things. We shall see.

The Federal Communications Commission was created back in the day to ensure that some kind of political propagandist SCREAM MACHINE would never happen on the American airwaves. It happened. And it wasn't a slow-moving thing that gradually metastasized throughout our national political dialogue. It literally exploded overnight in full view of the FCC watchdogs appointed by President Bill Clinton. Were they aware at the time what was being let loose upon the news culture of this country? Who knows. All that can be said for certain is that they were asleep at the switch. For the good of the country, the entire operation needs to be shut down.

Ed Murrow

As I wrote on this site late last year (forfive me for quoting myself but I'm tired):

"[Edward R.] Murrow died nearly fifty-seven years ago, but the man was prescient in many ways. One of his biggest fears was that television news would become what FOX News undeniably is. A propaganda arm for any political ideology. That in itself is not necessarily a completely bad thing. After all, MSNBC leans notably to the left. But FOX Noise is something else all together: Lights and wires in a box. Not to mention a serious danger to our democracy and the public well being. It needs to disappear forever."

Forever.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here's Joy Reid last night on MSNBC giving a fairly reasoned analysis on why FOX is ignoring tomorrow night's hearing:

(8) ‘Why Is Fox Going To Extraordinary Lengths To Hide Jan. 6 Hearing Proceedings?’ Expert Asks - YouTube 

This is going to be interesting.

On To Thursday

With the commencement of the televised January 6 hearings in a little over forty-eight hours I'm tempted to say that the shit is going to hit the fan - but I need to check myself. With Americans as dumbed-down as they have become in the last forty-plus years, It's almost a given that the worst political scandal in the history of this country will make much of an impression on the inmates of Idiot Nation. The fact is that what occurred in Washington one year, five months and one day ago makes Teapot Dome, Watergate and Iran Contra - combined - seem like a schoolboy prank. June 8 will be as good a time as any to keep your eyes glued to what is happening on Capitol Hill.

HANG MIKE PENSE!

HANG MIKE PENSE!

It's now being said that Trump was hoping that vice-President Pence (along with his wife and daughters) would be killed in the uprising that was happening at that moment in the chambers of the Senate and the House. To his eternal credit, Mike Pense (along with Liz Cheney) turned out to be the handful of heroes of the day. Liz was this year's receiver of the JFK Library's Profile In Courage award. She deserved it. As in Watergate nearly a half century ago. the heroes of the hour who stood up to a criminal president wound up being Republicans. In 1974, Barry Goldwater had a considerable amount of support from within the GOP. In 2022, Liz Cheney has next-to-none. These are interesting times.

Thursday June 9, 2022 promises to be a day of historic revelations in Washington DC. Keep your eyes wide and your ears open. This is gonna be as weird as it gets, campers. The fun begins at 8 PM.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here's a report from ABC News on the upcoming hearings:

(1) Jan 6 committee set to hold 1st major public hearing l ABCNL - YouTube

Fasten your seatbelts. 

POST #1073: Random Observations

 

 Here's the deal: to be profanely frank with you, I am fucking sick and tired of writing about this topic. Since the Uvalde mass murder a week or so ago, there have been two more mass shootings in the United States. The number may have gone up - I haven't checked the news in several hours. Here are a handful of posts I've made on this topic in the past few years. As long as greedy, right wing politicians - in the pockets of the Mational Rifle Association - continue to put the profits of the gun lobby over the lives of out children - the bloodshed will only continue.

Keep voting Republican, kiddies!

April 19, 2007:

 

This week, as in times past, we're having all the old, tired clichés of the National Rifle Association shoved down our throats: "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Of course they don't - and I'm seriously considering shooting the next person who tells me that. "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have them." Yeah right. Were you aware of the fact that gun violence in Britain has vanished since that country banned all hand guns a few years ago? The same is true for Australia! In countries where firearms are difficult or impossible to obtain, the murder rate is extremely low or (in some cases) non-existent. I'm not makin' this stuff up, folks! Do the research!

 

March 29, 2009:

 

As Americans arm themselves to the teeth, the law of averages will eventually forbid such an unspeakable tragedy from not touching the lives of almost everyone. It has already happened to my family - twice. Two female cousins of mine - who never even had the joy of meeting one another - (one on my mother's side, the other on my father's) both died as the result of being murdered by men who were stalking them. Don't for a moment reflect on the passive tranquility of your lives and delude yourself into thinking, "It can't happen here". It can. It will. Whether child, parent, sibling, cousin or friend; gun violence will touch your seemingly untouchable lives eventually. Count on it.
 

July 20, 2012:

 

This is the way it's going to be from now on, kiddies. When a country has the stupidest gun laws in the western world (laws that are getting even stupider by the year) its citizens should come to expect this sort of thing. Our lawmakers have no intention of correcting this unacceptable situation. Most of them are too terrified of the power of the National Rifle Association to do the right thing. [In 1957] John F. Kennedy (one of history's more celebrated victims of gun violence) wrote a book that profiled examples of great political courage throughout American history. He wouldn't have much material to work with were he around today to write a sequel. Cowardice abounds. Get used to living in a country in ruins. This is the way it's going to be from now on.

December 15, 2012: 

The tragedy in Newtown yesterday morning defies reason and common decency; but don't think for a minute that a change is going to come. Any half-witted, psychotic little geek with an attitude problem and a fist-full of dollars will still be able to walk into any gun shop in Anytown, USA and take home a handy-dandy, semi-automatic, military assault weapon specifically designed to kill an entire roomful of men, women and little children  - and do it quite quickly and efficiently, too. Our lawbreakers disguised as lawmakers will still act as whores to expediency and campaign contributions. American children will still be slaughtered on the alters of greed and human stupidity. That ol' River of Blood is gonna still keep on flowin', baby! Nothing is going to change - nothing.  Why bother getting so bent out of shape over the inevitable? I'm not.

The NRA types love to jabber away - like diseased little myna birds - about 'freedom'. We need to come to grips with some unpleasant realities. A society that lives in dreaded, mortal terror wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place may indeed be many things - no argument there. 'Free' they are not. Let's just stop kidding ourselves here and now, okay?

January 13, 2013:

The gun crazies tell us that the purpose of the Second Amendment was to have the people armed to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. That's pretty crazy, too. The founders had a bit more faith in this new democratic experiment than that. There's a dandy reason why it was not legal for a private citizen to own a cannon back in the day. A cannon, when aimed just right, was capable of harming or killing a whole lot of innocent people. That's why they inserted the line about "a well-regulated militia" (a line the NRA always omits when quoting that amendment). James Madison and crew could not have envisioned rapid-fire, semi automatic weapons in their wildest dreams. Hell, they couldn't even foresee the Edison Wax Cylinder! That's the reason they designed the Constitution to be amendable. They had no idea what future technology had in store for humanity. A bit of amending is in order, wouldn't you say?

February 20, 2013:

Sure enough, and as predictably as the sun setting in the western sky this evening, it is quite clear that nothing is going to change. Nothing. Two months and six days ago twenty human beings - just barely out of infancy - were slaughtered like cattle by some goddamned lunatic bearing a tiny arsenal of rapid-fire weapons. In spite of national shock and outrage and the demand that these guns be eliminated from the public marketplace, most of our representatives are going to see to it that things remain just as they are.

March 22, 2013:

In the meantime (very mean indeed) we really have to come face-to-face with the prospect of living in a nation in ruins. We need to understand that there are just too many people in this doomed country - too violent, too stupid, and too stone-cold crazy - to ever see the light of day. This is not a situation that can be cured overnight by some magical, sociological panacea. This is a condition that will take a century or more to remedy - if it is ever remedied at all. We might as well deal with it as best we can. We The People are diseased. Congress is an organized criminal enterprise. The media is beyond dysfunctional. The chickens are coming home to roost - and they're armed and dangerous.

GUNS! Guns galore, baby! GUNS FOREVER! Lots 'n' lots of little baby body parts!  Little boys 'n' girls, blown to smithereens -  to teeny weeny bits! Decapitated heads and limbs - severed forever by the force of the explosion from the hand of some homicidal half-wit with a serious attitude problem and way too much time on his hands. This is what happened in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Have a look at the autopsy reports if you think I'm lying to you.

 

April 9, 2013:

But what the hell! Ninety percent of the American people want to see stricter gun legislation and yet these assholes refuse to do the right thing. I can't keep emphasizing this enough, folks: Congress is an organized criminal enterprise. And it's not just the Republicans in the cross-hairs of my scope (figuratively speaking - I promise!) There are enough Democrats who are hardly blameless. They should all be held accountable for the carnage when the next massacre of innocents happens within a few months time. And it's gonna happen, make no mistake about it - again and again and again.  Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans (not to mention Harry Reid and the conservative Democrats) will see to that. This is a fact of life that we need to grow accustomed to.

May 7, 2013

 How "free" do you feel? Free as a bird? That's perfectly understandable if you've never had someone you loved dearly killed by gunfire. I have. I wonder how many of the parents of the kids murdered in Newtown didn't give a rat's ass about the "gun issue" prior to December 14, 2012. I don't know the answer to that question. What I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that they care now. They care very much. You will, too, if and when it happens to you. And as we continue down this idiotic road, the chances are getting better by the day that it will indeed happen to someone you love - or to you - or to me (YIKES!). 

 September 8, 2013:

Note to the rest of the world: Planning on a sweet and cozy vacation for the spouse and kiddies? Here's some sound advice you'd be smart to heed: Stay out of the this place. We here in the good ol' USA want you dead. And if we catch you in the wrong place at the wrong time you're a goner, Buster. Of course the odds are much better than fifty/fifty that you'll get out of here alive but why on earth would you want to take such a chance - particularly when your loved ones are involved? Go out and hug a tree during a thunderstorm. It's much safer than visiting the United States of America. Think I'm kidding? Don't mess with us. Stay away from here if you know what's good for you. I'm not kidding.

September 21, 2013

Guess Who

Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association's most visible spokesman, will be going on Meet The Press for a sit-down with David Gregory tomorrow. He's always loads of fun to watch. On his last appearance on that program, the hideous twit was literally foaming at the mouth. I'm not kidding! It must be a difficult thing to make one's living defending the indefensible. How this guy sleeps at night is anyone's guess. My theory is that he's simply a sociopath. Or maybe he's suffering from acute brain damage. Whatever the case, it should be an interesting hour.

In the wake of the Newtown tragedy of December 14, Wayne said something to the effect that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. In the case of the Washington DC Naval yard massacre you had a bad guy with a gun entering a military facility that - we must presume - was packed to the rafters with lots of good guys with guns. And sure enough, one of them was able to take the bad guy out. HOORAY! The only problem was the fact that he was able to murder twelve innocent people before he was put down. OUCH! So much for the delightful idiocy of Wayne LaPierre.

September 2, 2014:

A little news item in this morning's paper caught my attention pretty quick. There has been a stampede nationwide to purchase as many models as possible of a particular, Russian-made AK 47. You see, Obama has just initiated a ban on importing them as part of the sanctions against the former Soviet Union because of their involvement in the Ukraine conflict. As a result, they have literally flown off of the shelves at gun stores all across this ruined land. As far as anyone can tell, there are no more of the things left. That's what is known as a good news/bad news scenario. 

Good News: There is one less dangerous weapon available. 

Bad News: In the last week America has become just a wee bit more lethal than it was the week before. Isn't that nice?

August 27, 2015:

And please, don't give me the NRA's argument (and if they haven't used it yet, they will - count on it) that if only Alison and Adam had the sense to arm themselves, they would be alive today.

Alison Parker and Adam Ward were focusing on their jobs. They were ambushed. They were doomed. They never had a chance.

May 24, 2016:

This is not "the land of the free". If you are under the delusion that, as an American, you are freer than a citizen of, say, Norway or Ireland or France or England or the Netherlands, you might just as well go back to sleep. We live in a constant state of paranoia and despair, wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place - as it surely will, and very soon. Call it what you will, just don't call it "freedom". Don't insult my intelligence, okay? We've been sold down the river to the lowest bidder. Stop kidding yourselves. Just deal with this American wasteland as best you can.

 TIMELY TIP: Vodka helps. Lots 'n' lots of vodka.

June 13, 2016:

 

Don't hold your breath waiting for change to come. That's not going to happen - not now, not ever. Every Republican in Washington (and way too many Democrats to count) are in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. I imagine the only thing that would reverse this intolerable situation would be an epidemic     of random shootings of our elected representatives (with a handful of NRA spokesmen thrown in just for shits and giggles). That would change things overnight - you'd better believe it, Bubba! But it would be wrong for me to hope for such a deplorable trend in our national affairs - and I'm not even gonna go there. I'm just trying to make what I feel to be a very valid point. And besides, violence isn't my thing. It isn't your thing either, I'm sure....I hope.


Dead-Dead-Dead-Dead-Dead....
`

If the corpses of twenty little girls and boys, all barely past infancy - slaughtered inside a Connecticut schoolroom like a barn-full of rabid pigs - wasn't enough to get these sociopathic bitches and bastards in Congress to do what is, after all, the only morally right thing to do, the mutilated bodies of nearly fifty dead homosexuals is not going to get the job done either. Call that "an educated guess" on my part. Don't forget that these nasty little regularities are the price we must pay for - ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? - our "freedom". Ain't that a riot
 
September, 2017:

Well that's it. This is now officially the worst mass shooting in the history of this doomed country. More people were shot last night in Las Vegas, Nevada on American soil than any time since the Civil War. In the short time it took me to compile this piece the numbers did indeed go up. At this hour the fatality count is over fifty-eight human beings slaughtered and over four-hundred injured, all while innocently enjoying a Jason Aldean concert. Those numbers are expected to rise before the sun sets on this troubled day in the life of Idiot Nation.

 
I'm going back to bed.

June 1, 2022

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR TOM DEGAN'S KIDDIE KASKET KOMPANY: 

I will donate ten thousand bucks each to the campaigns of the first twelve candidates who can assure me that the gun laws in this doomed nation are never going to change (Sorry, but that is all I can afford at this moment in time). In fact, if they can promise me that the gun laws in Idiot Nation are going to get looser as time goes by, I'll throw in a couple thousand extra. I only realized yesterday what geniuses the folks over at the National Rifle Association are! As the old adage tells us, If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, ay? Somebody tell Ted Cruz that if he wants my business he'd better damned well keep blaming school doors as being the problem. That's right, kids. Ted says the fault of the carnage lies with The Doors. People are strange.

 
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED READING:

Suffer Little Children
From this site, April 9, 2013

https://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2013/04/suffer-little-children.html

This one was written less than four months after the massacre of twenty little boys and girls inside a classroom in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Kiddie Casket Boom of 2022

 

Assault weapons be danged. There is a new business possibility and fortune to be made by any ambitious young entrepreneur out there with a little guts and a whole lotta of moxie. The idea hit me the other day when I pondered how strange it must be to work for a coffin manufacturing firm when it receives a massive, bulk order of pint-sized coffins for tots. Of course, I greedily expostulated! Given the times in which we live, and the almost no-brainer certainty that the massacres that have polluted the American landscape are not going to go away any time soon, why not make a sound, monetary investment in the carnage! I hereby announce the formation of the Kiddie Kasket Kompany - KKK - Perfect! How's this for a cute little radio jingle?

"A-tisket, a tasket, 

We got your kiddie's kasket!"

A tad morbid, I know, but what the heck. This is the new reality in the USA, folks. Why not take advantage of a situation that can only metastasize in the not-so-long-run? And, I must correct myself: this "new reality" is not very "new " at all. The Sandy Hook massacre was almost a decade ago. The Columbine school shootings were over twenty years ago! If this nasty reality is "new" at all, then so are 8-Track tapes and Bean Bag chairs. 

ANNOUNCEMENT: 

I will donate ten thousand bucks each to the campaigns of the first twelve candidates who can assure me that the gun laws in this doomed nation are never going to change (Sorry, but that is all I can afford at this moment in time). In fact, if they can promise me that the gun laws in Idiot Nation are going to get looser as time goes by, I'll throw in a couple thousand extra. I only realized yesterday what geniuses the folks over at the National Rifle Association are! As the old adage tells us, If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, ay? Somebody tell Ted Cruz that if he wants my business he'd better damned well keep blaming school doors as being the problem. That's right, kids. Ted says the fault of the carnage lies with The Doors. People are strange.

`

So who's with me? I'm selling shares in my new company for a hundred bucks a pop. That's a bargain basement deal, my friends! It may very well be blood money, but it's as green as mucus, ladies and gentlemen! A sound investment in the Kiddie Kasket Kompany will eventually pay for that luxury yacht and private jet plane you've always craved. It will send your darling children to the finest private schools in the nation - the same type of schools where the use of our kiddie kaskets will never be part of the equation, you know what I mean??? The number of massacred kids is only bound to go through the freakin' roof in the days, weeks, months and years ahead! For the sake of your financial well being in the future, this is an opportunity you cannot miss!

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here is a very funny and instructional scene from Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine. The entire documentary can be rented on YouTube - or you can purchase it for a song on Amazon.com.

(12) Bowling for Columbine (2002) - A Brief History of the United States Scene (8/11) | Movieclips - YouTube

Highly recommended.

AFTERTHOUGHT, June 1, 7:46:

The first of the dead are starting to be laid to eternal rest in Uvalde, Texas. They won't be needing the Kiddie Kasket Kompany after all. Never mind.

Kittie Kaskets Galore!