floundersgreatadventure

Why is it we can’t seem to have peace? Why is it somebody always wants to fight a war? Well, I don’t have an answer for that. I guess you could look at schoolyards for a little hint. You remember lunchtime outside or in the stairwell, don’t you? When that upperclassman would show up and want your lunch money and when you wouldn’t give it to him you had to sneak out of school at the end of the day. This happens to both boys and girls, it’s called bullying. In today’s world, it’s done on the computer as well as in person. It comes down to someone wanting what you have or just plain jealousy. In the real world, people seem to always want more than what they have. In the case of Mr. Putin, I think he is just scared. Scared that his people aren’t happy with what he’s doing so he starts a war to divert people’s attention away from him and their problems. Trump is an expert at deception he’s always making a lot of noise over here while he screws you over here. Putin is taking his unsettled youth population and giving them something other than him to think about. These people realize they can’t keep up the deception forever so trust me there is more on the way. I think Putin might have pushed too hard and didn’t expect Ukraine to become such a large thing. I don’t think he thought the world would jump up and say no as loud as they did. I worry he doesn’t know what to do next and what he does is critical to us having world war three. This isn’t about politics, food, or any other resource this is about my dick is bigger than yours. So long as people mostly men think this way lasting peace is just a dream. This is THE ANCIENT ONE and his pal ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

I don’t think world leaders understand what peace means and if we had real peace what we could accomplish. Just imagine not having to pay for huge armies and defense systems. What we could do with all t money. We could cure cancer and heart disease. There would be no hunger or poverty in the world. Instead, politicians get elected with promises of bigger guns as a deterrent to war. Somebody needs to tell them that no guns are a real deterrent to war. How did we reach a place where guns and the resulting wars will bring peace when in reality they just bring more guns and war. People like Trump think Putin will stop once he has Ukraine, if he stops it will just be to reload. He wants the Soviet Union to make a comeback. I would like to see the human race make a comeback. We don’t go after Putin as an individual but rather we do things that affect the regular guy. Way back in the day you could call out the leader of the other country for a duel and the two of you could settle things, nowadays you have to kill half the population first and he still won’t make a deal. It would be much simpler if we could just call him out. “Hey Val meet out back by the barn and we’ll settle this mano y mano.” Well, this old guy has got to go so this is the ANCIENT ONE and his girlfriend ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well, my banking problems pale in the face of what’s going on in the world today. That little snake Putin is trying to revive the Soviet Union’s Empire a little at a time. He thinks that with Trump being such a divisive force within the United States it will be easier for him to flex his muscles and secure the Ukraine. I think like all despots he has made a miscalculation on the cost to his country’s economy. He has the manpower to take control of the country but like when he invaded Afghanistan he won’t be able to maintain control and he will be spending money and lives trying to maintain his occupancy of the country. When I look around the world I see Communism rising in unlikely places. Like here in Colombia where the leading candidate for the presidency is the crooked ex mayor of Bogota. Who happens to be a card carrying leftist. I begin to understand why our founding fathers were so concerned about the ability of the masses to govern themselves. We have a tendency to do stupid things and they aren’t sure how to admit we were wrong and undo them. Getting back to how Putin views us I think that Trump and some other Republicans should be arrested for treasonous remarks in the support of our enemies. Do I think it will happen? No, it seems we are reluctant to per sou ex Presidents for criminal activity. Anyway, I’m at an age where all I can do is write about it and pray that someone younger than me can fix this mess we’re in. This is FATS and his gal pal ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

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.

Well, from the title you think something spectacular happened, maybe it did. On January 16^th I turned 76 and now have decided my new nickname will be the Ancient One. He is a character for the Marvel comic Dr. Strange. He was the Doctor’s mentor and Master of all things Mystic. Now that we have that out of the way yesterday looked like a Presidential election. First, it was wildly reported that Tom Brady had retired for football, hundreds of Tweets went out congratulating him on his long career and then hours later he and his team claimed never to have said it. The Bucs said he hadn’t told them anything, so this morning it looks like fake news has hit the sports world. I personally think he should. I know he had a record year but he threw a lot of passes that looked like they had been thrown by an old man with a bad arm. I’m not a big Brady fan as you can tell. He did well when he left New England but so did his rookie replacement. Maybe it wasn’t all him. Maybe the coaching staff had a little to do with it. Joe Montana had the same thing happen to him when he left the 49er’s and Brett Farve as well. QBs are a vital part of winning in the NFL but they aren’t the only thing. This is the ANCIENT ONE and ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well, I’m really sorry about last week. It was my birthday the family showed up we went out got back more family a little party then the NFL playoffs and Sunday was gone. The week was spent trying to get a new bank account. Why a new bank account you ask? Well, my old one HSBC decided they didn’t want to deal with small depositors because they are leaving retail banking. When they first told me in April I was told by them that bank they were going to transfer me to not to worry. They lied, they said my living overseas would not be a problem. On January 14th I got an email telling me I needed a US-based phone number. I proceeded to give them my niece’s number. On Friday they told me they couldn’t use it they weren’t going to take my account because I live overseas. I said thanks for nothing you SOB’s and went looking for a new bank. Google said Capital One was the highest-rated bank for ex-pats. Expats are people that don’t live in the US. OK, so I called them to open an account informing them that I didn’t live in the US. They said we could work it out this was on Saturday the 15th. I waited till Monday to call back and they said they needed copies of our passports and that they need to be sent from my niece’s phone I said no problem We did that and they accepted them. Later when I didn’t hear anything else I called them back. Had to tell them what we had done and he proceeded to tell me I needed to send the passports again right now while we were on the phone. I told him we couldn’t do that because I had to send everything to my niece first. He said let me get my manager. He does and she says they can’t open the account because I don’t live in the US. I said but you listed as the number one bank for ex-pats and the other 5 people I have talked to said no problem. I also asked if they were lying to me she said no it looked like they were trying to circumvent the procedure to get me an account. I was kinda losing my mind right about now and said they did lie and so does your advertising then I hung up before I really got mad. I am now working with a credit union that is accepting me, but I have to have all this done by Feb. 18 or I go into banking limbo. This is a pissed of FATS and ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well, the second post of 2022 is here and you just might recognize the theme. it’s about getting rid of the old politicians and bringing in some young blood, and by young blood, I mean young intelligent men and women, not crazy’s. I don’t have any new blood recommendations I don’t live in the US so it’s hard for me to keep up. I know they’re out there but a lot have lost hope and aren’t very motivated to seek political office and then fight the good fight. We need these people to get up off their asses and fight or they can sit back and watch the Democracy, which their ancestors fought for vanish. I don’t think they want to see a White Nationalist as President or an idiot like Trump either. People seem to believe that Trump is the biggest threat and I for one do not. The biggest threats are the ideas that Trump and others have given credence to that are the real threat. The fact that small-minded racists and anti women’s rights people are getting elected as well as those that feel Free Press and voting rights need to go is frightening. Antonia and I both feel that the desire to remain in power is making these old farts give life to the past. The past that people of Color and Women bled to replace. I know those of you that actually read this are yawning and saying it’s just a phase, but ask the people in Venezuela about that. They represent the latest in people that thought a dumb regular guy would make things better for them. This is FATS and ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Welcome to 2022. what to write to start the New Year. Well, last week I wrote about stuff. This week I think I’ll write about people that we should leave behind. First up is Donald Trump, of course, it’s time to leave the narcissistic prick in the trunk where he belongs. He should be joined by Mitch McConnell, also known as Mitch the Bitch, another Narcissist who really does nothing but prevent others from doing anything. Not just Republicans need to go Nancy Pelosi needs to leave because well she’s been around too long we need new blood. On that list is Joe Manchin, we don’t need any more self centered dicks, also there is AOC, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Ted Cruz, Fox News, and a whole lot of others. We don’t need a bunch of self serving semi educated morons telling us this is what we need and this is really what happened. We need news agencies that are impartial so we can get to the truth and politicians that remember that the Constitution says Government for the people and by the people and that being part of that means doing what we say not just filling your pockets with cash. Now do I think it will happen? I doubt it, too much greed. I don’t know how many more of these blogs I will post, after all, I turn 76 this year, but I would like to be able to write one that says Democracy is saved. This is FATS and ANTONIA saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.