floundersgreatadventure

What a week we have what are being called racist police shootings going on? We have the Trumpster calling a pageant contestant Miss Piggy and apparently having a melt down on Twitter at 5am. Well this stuff has nothing to do with the presidential election. Now before everybody gets upset about me saying the police shooting have nothing to with the election, well in reality they don’t they are a symptom of a deeper problem that’s been festering for a long time. White people are scared that there losing control of a country that they think is there’s alone. White people in this country should take a good look at South Africa. Everything the whites in America are afraid the whites in South Africa were afraid of the same thing. But after Apartheid ended and Mandela took control there was no great slaughter of the whites. If anything the country became more stable and economically enriched. Now let’s get back to the election. Trump saying he doesn’t pay taxes should upset people but it reality it’s a non issue. If you look at all the major companies in the US as well as their executives you’ll see that they either pay very little or no taxes. They just get very creative with the tax loopholes that are present for the very rich. We are not the only country where this happens, it done in all countries sometimes by force. Now, that is an issue that needs to be looked at as well as other issues like education and the economy. Our media has forgotten how to investigate the issues instead we ask candidates questions about stupid comments they’ve made. When they do ask a serious question they let the candidates give answers that aren’t really answers indicating to me that both the questioner and the answerer don’t think we’re smart enough to know that they are bullshitting us. Instead of sitting there and screaming white power or it’s the Mexicans fault we should take a good look at the problem. When we do this we’ll realize it’s not somebody else’s fault it’s ours for not demanding that the people we elect remember the Constitution. You remember that “We the people” and we’re the people. So if we elect so and so to office he shouldn’t be thinking of just the rich ones that got him elected but all of us regardless of our wealth or position. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well the debate happened last night without me and I gotta tell you I’m really glad I wasn’t there. Now depending on you read Clinton won but then they say that the internet polls say Trump won. The only thing I can be sure about is we still don’t have any answers to the real problem facing this country and the world. Sooner or later one of these two idiots is going to have to make some real hard decisions unless of course by some miracle I get elected. I have to assume that they both lie about stuff the difference is Trump is easy to catch. I mean I’d love to play poker with this guy he could never bluff. That’s the thing you know when your president sometimes to avoid WW III you have to do a little bluffing. I’m afraid Trump would just nuke everybody. He stands up there saying I’m going to bring jobs back and I’m going to build a wall. Well the wall might happen but only if we pay for it and as for jobs coming back it’s really not a simple equation. Most of the jobs left the US because it was cheaper to build something overseas. It was done to maintain profit margins without raising prices. Economics is vicious circle you’re making a product for X amount of money and in doing so you make Y percent profit. Now your employees want more money in their pay checks seems fare you’re making a ton of money because the product is extremely popular. So it would be natural for your employees to ask for more. Ok so you give them a little more and then raise the price of the product. Well now everybody needs more money so they can continue to buy your product. This means that the people involved in none manufacturing jobs like education need more money. Ok the government says fine but then taxes go up. You see where I’m going with this. Manufacturing could come back to the US tomorrow but prices would go up because costs would go up and then well you get the picture. That’s why some people think a depression would be a good thing because we would all start over on an equal footing. Well that would never happen. One thing came out of these debates pretty nothing is going to change for the better no matter who gets elected. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Tomorrow is the first presidential debate and of course I wasn’t invited. They’re probably afraid I would ask real questions and have real answers. I’d ask why we have never held a gun manufacture, whether they were US or foreign, responsible for their gun getting into the hands of terrorists and criminals. Now right now the NRA is getting ready to scream at me about gun control. Well I’m sorry but until we can make it harder for the illegal gun trade were never going to stop things like North Carolina or Baltimore or any of the other shootings that took place this week. I stand corrected on North Carolina that was a different situation and I’ll address that latter this week. Guns are a big issue that the candidates don’t want to talk about but so are education, employment and immigration. Rather than put forward proposals that truly address these issues they’d rather accuse each other of wanting to turn this country in a third world country. It the same with gun control Trump will say that a lot of the shootings could have been stopped or wouldn’t of happened if everybody had a gun and Hillary wills say more control is needed. I’m going to say that some more control is needed but we need to use the laws that are already in place make sure background checks are done properly. Make sure that manufactures make sure their weapons are going to reputable dealers and that the dealers have been thoroughly vetted. Also they should make sure their shipping methods are secure. I really don’t think that local delivery services can be trusted and I know the US mail can’t. We also need to make sure the retail outlets for these weapons are properly vetted. As for education I’ve always looked at Europe and even Russia to improve how we educate our young. They have some good ideas the problem here is that our teachers, who I believe are devoted to their students, feel underpaid and unappreciated already and local governments feel just the opposite towards them. These attitudes need to be dealt with before anything will change. Now as for immigration remember we are all immigrants in this country. Unless you a member of one of the Indian tribes you are not a Native American you are the descendent of immigrants. Well I have to go buy some catnip for the debates tomorrow so this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

I was out early yesterday and came home with all the intention of writing a post, but then I saw the notice about bombings in New York and New Jersey so I decided to wait until I had more info. I also read Trump’s remarks on the issue then watched Hillary’s press conference. They both were trying to use the attacks for political fodder to boast there campaign. One thing seemed to be clear the law enforcement community was looking at his as a lone wolf scenario. If this is true its law enforcements greatest nightmare. The lone wolf is the hardest to track and even harder to predict. As of this moment millions of dollars are being spent on finding their primary suspect and this is be done deservedly so. Until he is captured the actual extent of this attack won’t be known. I agree with Hillary that we need a better Visa system but I also think that we need to keep better track of those who enter the country on tourist or work visas and decide to just stay without letting anyone know. I remember back when we had the draft you could get a college deferment but the minute your grades dropped or you stopped going to class your local draft board was notified and you went to the top of the list. Now some people managed to slip through the cracks but not as many as over stay their visas. If we could keep track of eighteen year old men we should be able to keep track of visitors to this country. I’ve heard the comment made that they didn’t kill anyone so they must be unorganized and not that great a threat. If you live in New York take a look around see those guys with guns on the corners, watch people react to sirens or a car back firing. Two days ago you would have seen the guys with guns and people wouldn’t get scared at a siren or car back fire. This is what terrorism is about. Disrupting your way of life make you afraid to walk outside, distrust people you may have known all your life. Now what do we do about this how do we handle this. The truth is if some individual decides he hates our government and want to bomb a building there’s not much that can be done to stop him. Well you say like trump says, profile people which in his mind means Muslims or Arabs. That’s all good but remember Timothy McVeigh, New York City’s own mad bomber, and of course the Unabomber. None of these people ever had a Islamic thought in their lives they just didn’t like the government or something else. As a candidate for the office of President of the United States you are probably looking for me to give you some definitive answer to the problem. Well let me tell you something law enforcement doesn’t like to talk about. If someone wanted to shoot me and didn’t care if they were killed or captured or if they wanted to blow up a building and again didn’t care if they lived or died it’s really not that hard. Trump says look at Israel well they shoot missiles into their neighboring countries and innocent people get hurt or killed and they still have suicide bomber in their country. And here’s a point every time an innocent adult or child gets killed we make a hundred enemies. We recently dropped bombs in Syria and killed 60 Syrian troops by mistake. No we have the potential for six thousand more terrorists. I don’t have a simple pure solution to this problem and I’m certain that despite what the other candidates might say, either do they. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

If your wondering why no post yesterday I was doing as the other candidates were and showing respect for 9/11. Now that the day has passed it time to let you know how I stand on the issues the real issues. Not Hillary’s health or the latest bullshit from the Trumpster, but rather real issues, Education, Health Care, Immigration and employment. Let’s start with Education shall we. I believe that everyone should to school and be afforded the ability to obtain higher education as long as they can meet whatever academic or technical skills are required. What that means if all your aptitudes and skills point you in the direction of physics and you want to be a poet. You should have to have some sort of proven ability to write poetry or you would have to pay for your education. In other words you would have the same requirements as others only your education would not be paid for. As for athletes who are now demanding things like union representation in school as well as getting paid for their services. Well I think we should remove athletic scholarships and make them stay in school for the full four years. if you chose to go to technical schools you will still have to pass college core subjects but your education will be free. Now as for health care I have to be honest I’m really not that familiar with Obama Care other then knowing that Republicans want it gone. If I’m elected I would first do an in depth study of the program and if on the whole it was good, which I think it is, then if it needed a slight fix here or there I would do that. Just discarding the program for the hell of it without something to put in its place would create chaos and put millions of people at risk. Immigration now here’s a really hot topic. I don’t think we should close our borders but I do think we need to do a better job of vetting those that we let in. Also I think we need to do a better job of making sure those that we do let in say on work Visas leave when their time is up. Deporting bad people doesn’t seem to keep them from getting back in so something must be done there. Building a wall on our southern border is not going to stop terrorists from entering the country or drugs of for that matter. They run them in underground now. We can’t ban a peculiar religion from entering this country after all religious freedom is one of the founding fathers greatest reasons for coming here in the first place. As for employment I personally never had a job that I had to worry about a Mexican taking. I wasn’t a dishwasher, or common laborer and I don’t have any friends that are running out looking for that kind of job now. But I do know people who have lost jobs to Asians and other nationalities that required an education or special training such as those in Medicine and the tech fields. The major companies bring these people in on special work Visas don’t offer them benefits and pay them less. These are the people that over stay there Visas and tax the infrastructure of our cities. I think once my education plan is in place it will be easier for Americans to compete with these people. I also would ,again once my education plan is in effect, put limits on the amount of foreigners a company could employ versus the qualified Americans. As you can see employment, education, and immigration are all tied together. Well I hope you have a better understanding of where I’m at and maybe the other candidates can stop calling each names or making outrageous and inflammatory remarks and state their positions for you. This Flounder your next President saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the US National Anthem this week so I’m going to let Fats take over for today. Thanks Flounder as you have probably heard a quarterback for a major NFL team, the San Francisco 49er’s, has refused to stand for the Anthem. He says it’s in protest to how blacks are treated in the US. Well lets for the moment say that’s the case. Back in 1962 63 when I was a senior in high school we had exchange students who because they weren’t US citizens and would be returning to their countries at the end of the school year not saying the Pledge of Allegiance. We also had none Christian Students who either sat or just kept quiet during the Lord s Prayer. If you’re old enough you will remember it was required back then. Nobody got real excited about any of this until that atheist woman had prayer removed from schools by proving it was unconstitutional. Now in New Jersey at that moment people didn’t get real excited about any of this. But returning to the more modern era the Star Spangled Banner or the American Anthem is probably the most disrespected National Anthem in the world. I have been privileged to experience other National anthems in other countries. And the first thing you noticed is the athletes and the fans standing and singing their Anthem. Not moving around not waving to the camera but showing respect to the song. American did this for a short period after 9/1. But soon resorted back to not waiting for the song to end and drinking and mugging for TV. So my point in all this is why are people getting upset with the quarterback who sits or kneels down quietly? While others are moving around, talking, and doing other things that I would characterize as disrespectful the National Anthem. Grow up America let him do his thing he’s just proving himself to be ignorant. This is Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia. Don’t worry Flounder will be back on the campaign trail soon.

Here’s a short post for my Colombian friends concerning the peace agreement between the government and the FARC rebels. I think Colombians should be worried that this isn’t going to work. Firstly because part of it is going to depend on more money from the U.S. and I don’t think that’s going to happen as quickly as they hope. It’s too close to the election and I think Congress will want to wait to see what the new administration has to say. And of course if Trump gets elected all bets are off. Another reason is a simple one you’re taking a group of basically uneducated gunmen and telling them to go get minum age jobs. Now I know Americans have all watched a movie or TV show where the poor local boy is recruited into a life of crime because the gang members make more in a day then he can in a month working for minum wage. The government in its deal with the FARC to let them into politics will play right into the hands Timochenko who was educated in Russia and Cuba. I can see not peace and tranquility in Colombia’s future but rather political chaos and possibly a coup. So voting no for the agreement might be saving Democracy in your country. But what do I know I’m just an old cat. This is Flounder (Still running for President) saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Sorry about no post yesterday Fats has arthritis and some days are worse than others and yesterday wasn’t a good one, but is seems OK today so here we go. I’m a tuxedo cat that means I have black and white coloring and I have experienced my share of insults from other cats and people and I have, much to my shame, responded with racist remarks. I don’t believe anyone my age or Fats, which is over seventy, has never harbored a racist thought. If you’re saying never your lying to yourself and everyone around you. I’ve grown to learn that in order for America and the world to survive its necessary that all races get along. We all bring something to the table and think that white people can stand alone against all the other people of the world is Bullshit. In the United States if you take all the black brown and yellow people out there wouldn’t be enough people left to defend against an invasion of the Mickey Mouse Club never mind a super power. You know if the Indians at Plymouth had taken the attitude to keep all white people out there wouldn’t be a Thanksgiving. We sit around and tell other countries that want to remove or subjugate the indigenous population that it’s immoral and amounts to ethnic cleansing. But it’s what we did to the American Indians and to this day they are left on reservations. In Colombia where Fats and I live we see the same thing the indigenous people are pushed into the background left to live in poverty and be ignored by the Government. I would love to know what it is about the human race that makes people who look different or speak different so disliked. I will to the day I die believe that for the world to survive we must learn to live as one people. I may be just a cat but I think in this case I know what I’m talking about. This Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

You know Jeff and I have about a hundred and fifty years of experience between us he being seventy and I being about eighty one. That gives us a little insight into this Polling business that goes on during elections and just about everything else. I believe that it has an effect on how or if people will vote in the election. I say this because I believe people are too lazy to take the time to really look at a candidate. Instead if they do vote they like to vote for the winner so they’ll vote for whose ahead in the polls. On the other side if their candidate is ahead by a few points in the poll they might just not vote rather than having to skip lunch or leave early or get home late from work? You might say well they do get time off to vote but some would rather get a head start on the traffic or take a longer lunch. With us being old we remember when TV would give vote tallies and predictions before the polls closed. This was determined to influence voting in those areas where the polls were still open. If you take this knowledge and apply it to polls you can see what I’m saying actually happening. I remember seeing someplace that the New York Times is written to a sixth grade reading level. If that’s true getting people to make an informed decision is dam near impossible. I can see in the news that there are a great many people that seem to be making this decision on which to vote for based on what party they belong to rather than taking a serious look at the candidates. I’ve heard people say polls don’t mean anything. They’re usually the ones behind in the poll. I’m kind of afraid that this thinking might get Trump elected. Which would mean, for the first time in history, a candidate who didn’t want to win would end up being President. I think people should forget the polls and vote Flounder for President. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

I just finished reading an article by Matt Taibbi in Rolling stone where he talks about how unbiased the American news has become. He goes on to talk about how it’s impossible to get both sides from any one source. I hate to tell you Matt but the people that I grew up with have thought that way since the 60’s. We would read several different newspapers and news magazines as well as listen to and watch different news channels. Some of this might have come about because of the Kennedy assassination and the rumors of cover up. Then of course Nixon didn’t help either. I think news outlets have gone in this direction because people are too lazy to look for the truth. They would rather put their faith in a face or a voice. Now I hear young people are doing what we did and they have an even greater source for info the internet. Maybe now with the obvious siding of the news media with one party or the other people will again start thinking for themselves. I know that a simplistic and novel thing to say but it would be great if they did. If we could force politicians and news media from using the art of deception and get reporters back to investigating and writing the truth maybe we wouldn’t have some of the problems we’re having in this country now. But what do I know I’m just a cat. This is Flounder your next President saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.