floundersgreatadventure

Well, before we get to the title story let me tell you the argument with the bank continues. Now, for you new people or new person let me tell you about Flounder. Flounder was my cat he was what they call a Tuxedo cat because his coat resembled a tuxedo. He came with me to Colombia and we spent 191/2 years together he was a month short of 20 when he died. I miss him as do some of my readers. I didn’t change the name of the blog because that required me to really say goodbye. I have a new writing pal in my Labradoodle Antonia. We think she is between 8 and 10 years old, could be older. I got her about a year before Flounder died. They were good friends every once in a while Antonia will go looking for him.

OK, now back to the title of this post. War, what is it good for? I don’t think much will be accomplished by this one except the deaths of a lot of children and women. Putin felt this was a good time because he had spent the last 6 years or so watching as America showed its true divides. I think he knew we wouldn’t do much. Trump had split the country and weakened our standing in the world. He almost had to attack now, because we were starting to get some of that respect back. Putin will win this war but it won’t last. It will cost him his place in the world as well as billions of dollars to hold onto this victory. Putin wants the Russian Empire back. He might get some of it back but it won’t last. His country has become too corrupt over time to be able to sustain an Empire. Trump has supported Putin’s plan because he admires dictators. He admires them because he thinks his people admire them, they don’t. They fear their leaders and that’s why they don’t say No to them and that’s what Trump wants absolute power. I could go on about Trump but I’ll leave that for another post, after all, he has already proved himself to be a coward and a traitor. This is FATS and his friend ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

It appears that I’ve missed some posts and I apologize for that. I’ve been dealing with banks and the government, let me explain. First the government it’s time for me to renew my visa and ID (cellular) and of course, I don’t speak Spanish so I let my wife handle it and guess what I ended up filling out the online forms myself while she planned a party with friends. It took a while but I finally got it all figured out and done. Now the banks and that is still an ongoing problem. We have had a checking, savings, and credit card account with HSBC bank for over 12 years. A year or so ago they informed us they were dumping what they referred to as retail accounts and transferring them to Citizens Bank. that’s when the problems started. The week before my birthday they said I needed a US-based phone number in my name before citizens would accept my account. I went looking for a new bank. I thought I had one in Capital One but after three weeks of them saying don’t worry we got you. A supervisor told me they would not be able to accept me as a client. I had gone to them because they were rated the number one bank for Expats on the net. Expats are people that don’t live in their countries anymore, so I thought I would be no-brainier. Capital One says you need a residential phone number in your name in the US. OK, I moved on to a credit union named Secretary of State Federal Credit Union. I was accepted for checking and credit accounts I also applied for the Direct Express debit card from Social Security. Well, direct express has no record of me and in the meantime, I got all this email from Citizens bank telling me to expect credit cards and account information in the mail. Well, there is no mail-in Colombia so I called them and they said I would have to wait until Feb. 22nd to get those account numbers. Today they closed my HSBC accounts and now I have to wait till Tuesday to find out. If I go with the credit union they are not excepting the credit card which is fine with me since it’s in my wife’s name and she has no income other than mine. I don’t plan on paying for it if I can’t use it and they can’t garnish my Social Security check. That sounds like fun right well I’ll let you know what happens. This is the ANCIENT ONE and his Friend ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well, I was all set to write about the pro-bowl and Tom Brady’s retirement and then Marjorie Taylor Greene had to open her big fat mouth. I’ve asked this question before how does such an obviously mentally screwed-up person get elected to congress. Then I remembered the country elected Donald Trump as President. She is why I think politics sucks. She does however prove that Americans aren’t smart enough to run the government themselves. I’m as I have said before 76 years old and have been listening to politicians for about 60 of those years and I have learned one thing they will lie, steal, and cheat to get elected. Shake hands with one, be sure to count your fingers afterward. Marjorie’s reason for being in politics seems to be she get people to listen to her. I personally believe that she along with a few others is the greatest threat this country has ever faced. If we just keep ignoring her and hope she’ll go away we will wake up one day in an Orwellington world. This is the ANCIENT ONE and his friend ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.