2022: The Worst of the Rant

With Sweet Charlotte of Scotchtown Avenue, Christmas Day 2022

No question about it: 2022 was not a particularly prolific year on this site. Exactly one year ago, a house guest went on my computer and loaded it full of viruses. I wasn't able to post a thing until the end of May. Then late in the Summer, I got a nasty case of writer's block and slowed down somewhat. Hopefully I'll be churning them out again in the new year. The following are a collection of highlights of the year which is about to mercifully end. Wasn't that a time?

MAY 11:

One of the more memorable aspects of [Marjorie Taylor Greene's] career will be her atrocious molesting of the English language. The last time I wrote "your" for "you're" or "there" for "their" or "well" for "we'll" was probably when I was in the sixth grade. That the people of Georgia could possibly send this pathetic, uninformed person to the same halls that were once walked by the likes of Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams defies credulity. 

MAY 18:

For years I've been saying that the Republicans are no longer a political party. They've become as organized criminal enterprise. I must amend that. They've become a satanic cult. What happened in Buffalo over the weekend is a bleak harbinger of nastier thing to come. Get used to living in a nation in decline.

MAY 20:

Dorothy

Ten years ago I wrote on this site a tirade called, "A Message to My Fellow White People". There will be a link to it at the bottom of this peace - perhaps even a quiz - I'm thinking it over. At the end of that piece I predicted that the biggest story in the years to come would be how the white public would react to the inevitable and completely unavoidable coming shift in the sociological demographic. In other words: by the time the twenty-first century is half way over, white people will no longer be in the majority. Recent months shows that piece (written on July 25, 2012) to be damn-near the most prescient thing I ever wrote. Today, the right wing SCREAM machine is twisting itself into full-blown spastic apoplexy over the absurd idea that a sinister cabal of evil liberals is plotting to replace the existing white power structure with an army of nasty brown people.

MAY 25:

I composed a piece on this very topic nine days ago. Here I go again. To tell you the truth, I'm getting bored writing these articles periodically. It happened again late yesterday morning. Some frazzled little geek with nothing better to do walked into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Texas and opened fire on innocents. As of this hour, twenty-one people - most of them being little girls and boys - lie dead. Three others are seriously injured so those numbers could possibly rise. Two policemen were injured attempting to take the gunman down, although none of their wounds are life-threatening. The killer has been killed; his motives forever cloaked in mystery. Life goes on. 

Hi Ho.

JUNE 1:

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?

JUNE 7:

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.

JUNE 8:

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.

JUNE 10:

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.

JUNE 17:

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.

JUNE 24:

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.

JUNE 30:

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.

JULY 4:

Juneteenth is the day I celebrate now. When the day was signed into law last year by President Biden as a holiday, conservatives around the nation had a mass hissy-fit. They calmed down after a while, though. I guess that they finally warmed up to the idea that there was another day on the calendar that gave them an excuse to drinks lots 'n' lots of beer, get really drunk, and gorge on barbeque chicken. I know it works for me.

AUGUST 9:

Although privately proclaiming total devotion to the half-witted sociopath and common pervert who served as the nation's 45th president for four EXTREMELY long years, more-than-a few Republican politicians are beginning to see the very blinding light. They see Trump as an albatross that needs to be removed from their midst between now and the 2024 primary season - the sooner the better. More and more Americans are starting to understand how completely unhinged and out- of-touch Donald Trump is with the sweet concepts of reality. The very fact that he was elected to begin with fills the rest of the world - once so respectful and envious of the United States - with dread, loathing and horror.

AUGUST 11:

I imagine that the heirs of Richard Milhaus Nixon will sleep a tad more soundly tonight. No longer will The Trickster be the standard by which presidential corruption is held up as an example. Donald Trump's lifetime of grift, theft and corruption are coming crashing down on his clueless little head. As I write these words, the chickens have come home to roost with a vengeance that he never - in his wildest and weirdest dreams - could have imagined. In the early evening hours of August 11, 2022, there is no doubt in my mind that Trump will be the first former chief-executive to die in the custody of the federal authorities. We can only pray that he is the last. 

AUGUST 14:

Over a year ago I said on this site that [Liz Cheney} should be nominated for the Profile in Courage Award that is given away by the Kennedy Library every year. I was delighted when she received the prize for 2022 (not that Caroline reads The Rant - I'm sure it was merely a coincidence). I have hardly ever agreed with her on anything, and I was sincerely alarmed a number of years ago when she announced that she was making a run for congress. My feeling at the time was that no good could come from any kid of Dick Cherey's. But it is hard not to admire her for the way she stood up to the right wing SCREAM MACHINE at a knowing cost to her political career. She is one of the very few Republican politicians currently holding national office who will stand like a rock in history.

SEPTEMBER 2:

To witness people like Chuck Grassley and Kevin McCarthy warning Americans that an army of 87,000 armed IRS agents will soon be showing up at their doors to kill them stuns the senses. This is the equivalent of putting a virtual bullseye on the back of people who work for the federal government. How completely sick and irresponsible is this?

SEPTEMBER 8:

Truth be told, Until the year 2021 rolled around, I never spent that much time thinking about her majesty the queen. If I had been born a British subject, I would probably today be a Republican. I always admired the lady, and thought that she was a really class act, but I'm just not crazy about the idea of "royalty". I don't believe that any royal "highness" is any higher than me - or you. 

Here is something to ponder: Were you aware of the fact that I am in line for the title of King of England? That's right, folks! I am a direct descendant of Kings Edward the First and Second of Merrie Olde England. This got me to thinking that being the king of England would be a pretty good job. How many of my older male relatives would I need to bump off in order to get the gig? It was only when I realized that I would have to send my older brother Jack and my cousins Bill and John Barris off to permanent Dreamland that I thought better of the scheme. I have to sleep at night.

OCTOBER 6:

 Clarence Thomas has a big problem. 

First of all, Judge Thomas has no business being on the Supreme Court. His presence is an embarrassment to anyone with an IQ above room temperature. We now know that he is as corrupt as anyone who has ever sat on that bench. How this pathetic Uncle Tom Negro is able to sleep at night is a question for the psychiatrists and not for me. 

And we now have absolute proof of his corruption: he has been caught red handed making decisions on cases in which his wife is involved. When a recent decision involving weather or not emails between Gini and Mark Meadows could be released to the January 6th committee, Thomas was the only one of the nine justices who voted NO. Did he believe that no one would notice blatant the conflict-of-interest? Who knows what the silly bastard is thinking on any given day.

OCTOBER 8:

I believe that something like a one-party-system wouldn't be a good thing for America. That's why I believe that, if you are registered to vote in Republican primaries, you should be alarmed at what the crazies are doing to the GOP. You need to get to work taking it back from the loonies who have hijacked it before it's too late - as it will be very soon.

OCTOBER 14::

QUESTION: Do I seriously believe that Trump should go to jail?

ANSWER: No.

EXPLANATION: "Jail" is where you go when you've had one-too-many on a Saturday night and you accidentally back your car into the plate glass window of the local pharmacy. Donald Trump needs to go to federal prison for the rest of his life.

So there.

NOVEMBER 8:

Well, hey there! It is now 1:12 AM, 8 November 2022 - the most crucial, existential Election Day of our lifetimes; one that is right up there with 1932 and 1864. We could lose everything by the time the polls close tonight - and some people a lot smarter than I am are predicting that we might - some are even predicting that we will. Say what you will about the weird times we are living through, they sure as hell aren't boring, Anything but. By this time tomorrow morning we could all be humming a requiem for America. I'm going to keep a harmonica handy just to be on the safe side. We shall see.

DECEMBER 3:

This is the kind of election that staggers the imagination. Bearing in mind that the people of Georgia less than two weeks ago sent back to Washington an unstable imbecile like Marjorie Taylor Greene anything is possible at this time. Consider the choices they have down there: A capable and articulate incumbent senator who is also the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta that was once run by Martin Luther King - or a former football star with the intelligence of a rancid bag of moldy doorknobs who is incapable of putting a coherent sentence together. You would think that this would be an easy one for Georgia, wouldn't you? Yeah, so would I. Unfortunately, it's not. At this moment in time, the pastor and the putz are running neck-and-neck in the polls. We should have just let the silly bastards secede in 1861

DECEMBER 4:

In 1948, most Republicans serving in both houses of congress were faithful servants of their constituents. Today the GOP is an organized criminal enterprise. That is not to imply that there are no GOP politicians left dedicated to doing good and honest work in the House of Reprehensibles - there are. The difference is simply that today they are the exception. In 1948 they were the rule.

DECEMBER 18:

It keeps getting funnier and funnier with this knucklehead. Is the term "self-aware" even in this guy's vocabulary? Trump has now embarked upon launching a series of "digital trading cards" to sell to his rabid followers at a cost of ninety-nine dollars each. The images portrayed on each card do nothing more than to provoke laughter from even his most notable sycophants (Steve Bannon and Laura Ingraham in particular). Images of Donald Trump an a Super Hero or Donald Trump as a cowboy sheriff or Donald Trump as a football star just don't pass the giggle test as far as most people are concerned. My guess is that, by now, he and his team are realizing the absurdity of this latest blunder and that they will soon walk it back.

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So there you have it, class. In six days 2022 will belong to the ages. Hope you all had a dandy holiday and that you didn't get too crazy munching out on the figgy pudding. Fingers are crosses and hands are folded for a safe and happy 2023.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY