WE all thought 2016 was a dreadful year.
Bookended by the death of the great David Bowie in the January and the confirmation that the not-so-great Donald Trump would be the 45th President of the United States before the 12 months was out, it was a year to remember - but not for particularly good reasons.
But now, as I write this latest blog, near halfway into the 10th month of 2017, 2016 seems not no bad after all - in comparison with what has followed.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense and decency knew that the Trump Presidency was going to be bad.
Perhaps none of us really knew that within 10 months of him making his first address at President, his Presidency would be the most appalling, divisive, nightmarish, disgusting and unwanted in the years since the country first declared its independence from the British Empire 241 years ago.
And that includes the embarrassments brought about by the corrupt Richard Nixon, for starters.
Throughout 2017, Trump has lurched from one incident to another - and found to be wanting.
Not only that, however, he has gradually shown his true colours to reveal the dangerous despot he really is.
In the days when he was a 'reality' TV star presenting The Apprentice, he was largely kept under control when issuing the order "You're fired!" was simply an amusing catchphrase.
Now, you might say I'm overreacting, but I now have real concerns that those exact words would be happily repeated as he gives the command to launch missiles - whether conventional or nuclear - on any enemy he cares. And I'm not just referring to North Korea here.
Yes, North Korea has provided him the perfect ammunition he has wanted - they too have a crazy dictator in charge and my fear is they will act first giving Trump the excuse he wants to pounce and set about launching a military campaign he so clearly craves.
Trump can certainly claim to be the first President of the Divided States since those dreadful days of the American Civil War in the 1860s.
He has been nothing but divisive in his words and actions since he first entered the White House - and God knows, so many of us wish he had not.
Little could I have imagined, for example, that the Commander-in-Chief would have picked a conflict with one of the country's biggest institutions - the National Football League.
But then, it's all part of his master-plan - to divide, and conquer his enemies.
That's how despots operate.
There seems to be plenty of stuff Trump would prefer not to come to light, starting with what the Russians have on him exactly. My guess is a tome that would rival War And Peace - and its sequel had Leo Tolstoy ever got around to penning one.
So therefore he deflects issues elsewhere, a diversionary tactic people like him are only too clever at.
And in the end, we're left with a situation where battle lines have been drawn - and very distinctive they are too.
And I don't mean political left and political right.
I mean simply right and wrong.
What we are all seeing for ourselves here, in our own precious lifetime, is a man who should be nowhere near the great and noble office of President of the United States of America, let alone be a man who has the codes to launch nuclear weapons and bring about Armageddon and the end of our treasured Planet Earth.
Some people reading this might say I'm going too far - he would never do that. But I'm only going on the evidence thus far, and it's not good at all.
I am really fearful for the immediate future, because if things spark into something dreadful on the Korean Peninsula, there's every chance that engagement will not be restricted to what happens to the two nations and the millions of people who happen to live north and south of the 38th Parallel.
I wish I knew what the answer is to solve all of our problems, starting with Trump, but I simply don't.
Maybe these are the end of days we're living through now, but don't know it.
Maybe this is what the Book of Revelation is all about, I don't know.
But I hope and I pray all the time that good will prevail and that evil will be defeated - it's something I have always ascribed to, and always will.
And I guess it's that hope and those prayers that is helping me right now - because this is a battle we cannot afford to lose - for the sake of our own priceless lives and our great and wonderful planet, the only one we know for certain has life in the universe.
