floundersgreatadventure

You know I just read a story about ESPN laying off a whole bunch of on air personalities and saying there are more changes to come. They said they did this because of lost revenue stemming from people getting away from cable. Now this mean in a lot of cases, not all, people are watching for free. To me this is just another case of somebody telling me what I like or don’t like. In most of the cases where I was familiar with the show or people getting laid off I thought the people were boring and not very knowledgeable. Or maybe it’s that they just don’t like the products that are being offered in the ads and that’s why they’re not watching anymore. Just recent one of the other stations demoted a football analyst by the name of Phil Simms. He was an x Super Bowl quarter back from the New York Giants. Since I had watched his whole career I felt he was very overrated both as a player and TV guy. But you know our opinions don’t mean much unless were a sponsor and there research guys say hey nobody like this guy. Then and only then will they remove them I think instead of removing these guys and canceling their shows maybe it ws just time to put somebody in there with a touch more credibility or pizzazz but what do I know I’m just a cat. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.

Well here comes another Sunday post. Two stories I’ve been following for awhile, one the crisis with North Korea. I don’t know how old my readers (all two of them) are but I’m 71 and Flounders around 82 so we’re old enough to remember the Korean War. That war gave us new terms in the English language. Terms like Brain Washing, and Psychological Warfare were introduced in the main stream language. We’re still trying to deal with a country we know nothing about much like we’re doing in the Middle East. We are also forgetting history and how we got played by North Korea and latter by North Korea. The Trumpster and his minions don’t realize that the North has really nothing to lose and a lot to gain by threatening war, especially non nuclear war. That’s because they can put a million self sufficient combat troops into the field. They could run over the South with little trouble and now you throw in nuclear capability and you have a serious problem. They may not really want war but they want to ne like Russia, China and the US. They wan to have the ability to bring untold destruction to the planet if they don’t get what they want. They don’t want to conquer the world just the South. They have seen the benefits of a combined Viet Nam and just like Viet Nam the poor don’t really care who runs the country they just want to be left alone to grow their crops and feed their families. The problem comes when you realize that the people in control in the North still resent out interference back in the fifties. Now a new problem has arisen over there in the form of a President in Washington that has no understanding of the world. He has turned his military loose with no oversight form him, not that any oversight from him would come with intelligent thinking. He has Generals that believe that the minute we drop a bomb on the North they will surrender. That, is not true what would happen is that the majority of the planet would become unlivable in just weeks. Well enough about that now on the next bad story. The Taliban seems to be making a comeback in Afghanistan. Now this is one of those stories where I ask you to look at the history of the area. You remember back when Osama was a friend and the CIA was supplying him with weapons to help kick Russia out of the country. Then when it was done we just walked away because besides Opium there wasn’t a much we wanted from there. You need to remember that these people used rocks against the most sophisticated combat helicopter in the world at the time. I think we should just leave them alone the Taliban aren’t going to invade us if they try then we just reduce the country to gravel. I got t stop here this stuff just gets depressing when you think about it. I’m talking about the absolute lack of knowledge from our leaders in terms of looking at history. This is Flounder and Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

It’s Easter Sunday and we all know the story weather you’re Christian or not. Now this story takes place on the African continent and it says the Jesus sacrificed his life for the rest of us. Now you know that Jesus is the big guy in the Catholic Church right. Well as he was born a Jew and later started his own ministry or that’s how the story goes. Christianity goes along with this and somewhere along the line the Catholic Church came along. This about the time that men started making the rules of the church which like the United States Supreme Court and the constitution are still doing now. The thing I don’t understand is the Christian world still calls the area the Holy land. Now this part of the world has been disputed since before Jesus. But part is still claimed by the Jews the rest by the Arabs. Now the question arises if Jesus was born a Jew, which it seems all historians agree with, and he started his own thing then Christianity was started by a man. It’s funny that those who were merely men are now called Saints and God has chosen to only speak to certain people. And God might be a Jew, or a Muslim, even a Catholic but if this is the case why is he telling everybody something different. This is the biggest religious celebration in Colombia not Christmas which would celebrate his birth. Could this be because he was born a Jew? Down everybody goes to church just like Passover for the Jews where they ask for forgiveness for all the crap they did the year before. Down here there are many, many processions through the streets. The Churches are filled to over flowing. Now when I was a boy we celebrated Christmas with the same vigor making sure we attended midnight mass (which I understand has been cancelled I many churches) it was a very serious time for Catholics. Now down here Christmas is a huge party where people try to see how drunk they can get. I haven’t been to a Christmas day Mass in years and I don’t think I want to. It would probably be just old people and drunks that couldn’t find their way home and stopped in for a nap. People are now in the process of killing each other to see which God is right. I got a flash for those people none of you are right. Whatever being is out there I can guarantee you he is not in favor of how this world is going. If I was him I’d pull the plug on us write it off as a mistake and go somewhere and start all over again. This is Flounder and Fats saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia and can’t we just all get along.

Well welcome to another Sunday. This one is Palm Sunday and the final day of the Masters Golf tournament. Now these two things don’t really excite me. It’s also a couple of days since the Trumpster sent missiles into Seria. I am always fascinated when the Christian world decides that they need to get involved in the Arab world. Go back to the Crusades when the pope at the time said we needed to get the Muslims or Arabs out of the Holy Land. That ended up in a draw of sorts. We always seem to get excited after the fact and we created most of the crap that’s going on over there. But let’s get back to the early times. This thing about the Holy Land wasn’t Jesus born not only a Jew but an Arab as well. I mean he didn’t start Christianity it was Peter and Paul and they didn’t start it in Egypt did they? Now I could be wrong on this but it just seems to me if you’re going to call it the Holy land shouldn’t you have your headquarters there and not in Italy? Now let’s come forward a few hundred years and you see the British are back invading and colonizing along with the rest of Europe. Now that didn’t work out well for them and eventually they got there ass’s kicked and left. Now as we approach today we see Russia, the US, and other non Arab countries getting involved because of something called oil. And we led the screw up over there we supported the Shaw of Iran against Iraq then when Khomeini kicked the Shaw out and then took over the American embassy we decided to support Saddam Hussein a lovely depot if ever there was one. Eventually he pissed the world off and he was killed off essentially removing stabilization form the area. Now this may come as a shock to those of you that slept through US History in school but back in the days before Apple and texting way back when this country was first starting out we had some serious problems over there. Iran was called Persia back in those days and they had a history of taking what wasn’t there’s. This particular time it was Persian Pirates that were causing the problem and an American sea captain by the name of John Paul Jones went over there and wrote the first words of the Marine core hymn. So do you see my point yet? This shit has been going on over there since before the bible and the Trumpster and his cruise missiles or Putin and his big mouth aren’t going to change anything except the name of the people who hate us. Look I could go on and on but I got the end of the Masters and a Bass fishing tournament to watch so I’ll just say this is Flounder and Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Over 250 people have died this week in Colombia as a result of heavy rains which cause massive flooding and landslides. I’ve read where the government says the residents had plenty of ample warning. If this is true why are so many dead? Well first there’s the distrust of the government, then there’s the, we’ll be safe here they probably mean over there but certainly not here. For centuries humans respected even feared Mother Nature but as time went on and science began to study her Mother Nature seemed less and lees scary. People started to believe that story that lightening doesn’t strike twice in the same place. So with the aid of science we decided that if this river flooded here once we could build on its banks without fear of it doing it again. Well the first clue that this was bullshit came from the insurance industry in the United States refusing to insure people against floods in these areas. Of course people said this was just a ploy to make people pay more money for insurance. Another clue ignored by us humans was the geological history of an area. Again we humans felt well it hasn’t happened a second time since I’ve been alive it probably won’t happen again. I like the one where they bring in the engineers like the US ARMY core of engineers and they build some retaining walls and smile and say it’s ok now, ask the people of New Orleans how that worked out for them. Two of the most destructive forces on this planet aren’t nuclear bombs but wind and water. The sad thing about this is that the people who suffer the most are the one that really can’t afford it. They live by the side of rivers for the old fashion reasons food and water. Or simply because it’s the only place they could afford their own home. Once a disaster such as the one in Colombia the news people are the first on the scene in their sharp clothes and with cameras and mike shoving them n the face of the victims so that they may get on the 6 o’clock news. Next come the politicians flying in, in helicopters that would be better served assisting in the rescue operations, to say this is a disaster (like we didn’t know this already) don’t worry we’ll give you all the assistance you need. Again ask the people of Haiti or New Orleans how that went. I fear that people like the Trumpster and others will ignore Mother Nature, and her warnings in order to make themselves popular and richer until it’s too late to stop the consequences. This is Flounder and Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well I don’t know how the rest of you are doing but my tournament brackets are all busted. I might have a shot at picking the national champ if Gonzaga wins it all. Now back to reality the Republicans try at repealing and replacing Obama Care didn’t go like the Trumpster wanted, and looks dead for awhile at least. The Republicans have been after this bill since the day it was signed into law. I find all of this to strictly partisan since as far back as I can remember people have been complaining about health insurance. Actually they complain about all insurance but since Health insurance can actually be a matter of life and death it gets the most attention. The smart thing to do right now would be to fix Obama Care rather than trying to start all over again, but that would require Republicans and Democrats to work together and also to listen to the people. These are things that just don’t seem to be possible for the politicians that are there right now. Most insurance costs are just like any other cost. As the price of drugs rises doctors and pharmacies charge more and then the insurance companies charge more. I happen to live in Medellin, Colombia and I can’t figure out how the same drug that costs me with a deductable about 20 dollars in the US cost me about 80 cents here. Also I have a Neurosurgeon who went to Harvard medical school whose visits cost about a dollar fifty and you all know what they cost in America if your plan covers them. My insurance premiums are 37.63 at the present exchange rate. My drug charges are for Cholesterol, diabetes, and blood pressure pills less than tow dollars. Now in all cases these are drugs that are available in the US. I’ve also had three skin cancer surgeries for about 8 dollars. Now I’ve recently seen where Colombia is rated higher in health care than either Canada or the US. So I wonder why the hell does it cost so much more in America? Stories like this are why Americans complain about the high costs. My medical care is better than in the US I mean I doubt very much that I would be able to get an appointment with a Harvard trained Neurosurgeon with the insurance I had up there as well as my income. So I think it’s really time to sit down and make an attempt to fix Obama care, but what do I know. This is Flounder and fats saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.

Well I’ve come to a decision. I ‘am no longer listening to anything that comes out of the Trumpster mouth unless it’s the words I resign. He is the ultimate charlatan, trickster, swindler, cheat, con artist. He listening to him reminds me of standing on a New York subway station platform watching a street performer while his partner sneaks up behind and steals your wallet. If you don’t want to be that person you must pay attention to what the Congress and Senate are doing. You must pay attention to both parties. You must watch for attachments to bills (called riders). If you insist on keeping this two party system you party must chose wisely. That doesn’t mean Hillary or any other old school politician. The world is changing right before our eyes and its time that we caught up to it before it’s out of our reach. The Trumpster and his minions for whatever selfish reasons are trying desperately trying to set the country on a backwards trajectory. The Trumpster has no empathy for anyone he wishes only to make as much money as possible so he can influence how we think. He is a hypocrite as evidenced by his appointments to his cabinet and staff. He uses his position to make money. A clear example of this is his weekend trips to Mar a lago where we pay for him to go and pay the hotel which his family owns to stay there. A really good example of his shell game is his claim that ex President Obama wire tapped him, now there are sadly some people whose hatred of the first black President is so great they actually believe this bullshit. The Native Americans have a saying for this “He Speak with Forked Tongue”. Everyday this man is out there saying his bullshit is another day that I feel embarrassed for this country. Well I’ve got to go and watch some basketball so this Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Some of the greatest scientific minds in the world are predicting dire things for the human race as the Trumpster and other billionaires say bull shit. I for one don’t think it matters much what we do since we’re the most self destructive life on this planet. Is this surprising to you? The human race is the only animal on the planet that kills for sport. We’ve even been known to hunt our fellow human beings. In our lust for money, power or the more innocent sounding better life we destroy those things that are necessary to our own survival. We listen to our elder’s say we’re just trying to secure a better future for our children. I call bull shit on this one. Because if it isn’t greed, that motivates some of these ridicules decisions then it’s out and out stupidity. I’m going to go with both. If you look around the world you can see destructive behavior in every country. The leaders all say it’s for progress again I call bull shit. Eliminating a species is not progress that species served a purpose in supporting this planet and us. I’ve heard people say that for every species that goes extinct a new one is born. That saying is based on various forms of a physics theory that states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This has been expressed as Karma, what goes around comes around, or yin and yang. So these people destroying a species say see the planet takes care of itself. The problem is that the new species may bot serve the same purpose as the one that it’s replacing. An example would be the honey bee or brown bat one helps pollinate our plants the other helps control insects like mosquitoes. There is nothing that shows that the replacement for the honey bee will be a pollinating flying insect or that what replaces the bat will eat insects. The other worry some thing is that this theory is based on natural extinction not manmade extinction. This is part of what makes us the most self destructive race on this planet. It’s our lack of thought our carelessness and our complete lack of empathy for the very planet which gives us life.
Ok I’ve managed to depress myself on this rainy Sunday morning so I’ll say this is Flounder and Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Have any of you really been paying attention to the news. You say you have well have you noticed that all the stuff about the Trumpster is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. What I’m trying to say is that in all of American history there’s never been a President who has been so deceitful, not even tricky Dick, and to make matters worse he keeps getting called on it. The Trumpster constantly complains of leaks and intrigue in his group of minions. Well somebody should inform him this is the Government of the United States not a board room where if something leaks out most of the world won’t give a shit. This is the US Government where if somebody comes to work with a hangover or a cold it becomes national news. The Trumpster is finding it hard to understand this. He does understand that he can easily distract the American people by standing up in front of them and saying something that will outrage them, such as his demand to investigate the Obama administration over supposed wire tapping of the Trumpster’s phones during the election. Now before I go further let me say that is entirely possible and I’m sure both sides probably at least attempted something along these lines. Let’s get back to the Trumpster, and his inability to keep scandals, in his group of so called insiders out of the news. There will always be leaks most administrations selectively leak stories to either help defeat something or to distract from some other issue. The Trumpster’s problem is, as I said earlier, this is not a boardroom where he can control everything. There is so much power and money up for grabs that he will never control everything the way he wants. He has made himself appear dumb and not in control of himself to the point that when he says something now people are looking under the rug to see what he’s trying to sweep there. that’s going to be it for now just remember now more that ever you must be vigilant and aware of what you government is trying to do because it will have a long term effect on you. This Flounder and Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well Sunday is here and I know your all sitting by your computer and breathlessly waiting for my next post. Ok so here it is. Today is February 26 which means Black History Month is coming to an end so I thought I would give you a few examples of what some of the famous Black inventors invented. First up is Dr. Mark Dean from IBM whose latest invention is a 1 Gigahertz chip which contains one million (Yup right one million) transistors and has un limiting potential. Another is Dr. Charles Drew who invented a way to store blood plasma that is used in blood banks today. That mean you probably know someone who is alive today because of him. Then we have Kenneth J. Dunkley he invented 3D viewing glasses which allow you to see that monster coming for your head. Of course you all remember Dr. Philip Emeagwali who in 1989 built the world’s fastest computer. Others of interest Benjamin Banneker, who as a youth built a fully functional clock entirely of wood he was also appointed to the three man committee to lay out Washington DC for George Washington. Then we have Dr Patricia Bath who improved cataract surgery and allowed for modern day laser surgery. Another famous woman Black inventor was Marie Van Brittan Brown who invented the first closed circuit television home security system. The list of famous Black inventors goes on and on which proves one of my points that if we were still a white dominated country, like so many people seem to want, we wouldn’t be where we are in the world today. This is Flounder and Fats saying CIAO and thanks from Medellin, Colombia.