floundersgreatadventure

A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement Clarke Moore
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

I must apologize for the lack of a post last week and the brevity of this week. Last week my dog Antonia was attacked by a Pit Bull and received damage to her eye so I was busy taking care of her. Todays post will be short because my father in law is in the hospital. Hopefully he will be home by tomorrow. There will be no political posts till next year but there will be plenty of holiday stuff in the mean time. This is Fats and the Spirit of Flounder and his girl friend Antonia saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well I guess I have to talk impeachment this week whether I want to or not. You all know I have extreme dislike for the Trumpster only because I know him. People say look he filed bankruptcy 5 times he’ll do it to the country. Well to be fair he personally never filed bankruptcy his companies did he never lost a dime of his own money. I’m pretty sure he still has the first dime he ever inherited. Unfortunately for those of us that want him out I don’t see that happening. The Trumpster as of this writing will not be impeached by the Senate and removed. It will take some smoking gun type of new evidence of criminal behavior that get the general public hyped up so they force the Republican majority to vote to impeach with out that your looking at possibly more than 4 more years. Without that smoking gun a vote for impeachment risks civil war or worse yet a race war. The economy is thriving right now and based on history will decline in the next 4 or 5 years making it look like he was a genius and we were all wrong to remove him. His reelection will doom democracy and things like heath care, education, social security and others policies that protect the average American. You will be looking at the beginning of the end. that’s not what scares me the most about him what scares me the most is that he’s just not that smart. I don’t believe hes capable of making the right decision in time of a real crisis. He walk into a room and believes he’s the smartest person in the room. If you look at his negotiations with North Korea you soon realize that hes out of his depth. These are the people that invented brain washing and the art of manipulation. The Trumpster invented the art of conceit and greed. The Trumpster doesn’t understand the world, he believes there no difference in dealing with a dictator than a chairman of the board. Well if he tries to out manipulate little Rocket Man he’s going to get a nuke up his(our) ass. Threating to nuke them into oblivion won’t work. The whole world knows the consequences of a nuclear attack. There was even a US policy that stated that if we could reach a guaranteed survival of I believe 21% of the population we would strike first, but advancement in weaponry have guaranteed the end of the world if a nuclear war was to happen. The ardent hawks in government understand this. They also understand that Kim doesn’t care. He would rather see the world die than give up is power. So where does all this leave us. Are we really looking at Agamemnon. The end of the world as we know it. That would depend on there being a real hero out there, good luck with that. This is Fats saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia and that maybe Flounder was the lucky one.

Soo we have another Sunday and the beginning of the Christmas shopping time, well at least in America. Down here fireworks last night began the drink till you drop party time in Colombia. This is surprising because Colombia is a very Catholic country, you would think it would be more about religion than alcohol. That isn’t the case as I have written about before this country takes a much more religious approach to Easter than it does to Christmas. Which to me not being religious is strange seeing that Christmas is about birth and Easter is more about death and stuff. When I say drink till you drop I’m not kidding it’s like watching myself in a mirror back in the day. Parties will start to get loud around 10 or 11 and go till 2pm the next day unless they decide to keep going. I have no idea how much beer and Aguardiente a overly sweet alcohol drink containing between 30 and 60% alcohol. It’s done in shots with water chasers. I would also say a few hundred pounds of Cocaine is consumed from now until after New Years. Alcoholism is large problem down here as I don’t see any real enforcement of any age requirement to be stupid. By Dec 10 there will be no Christmas Decorations for sale anywhere down here except a couple of specifically Christmas stores which are very very expensive. They don’t want shopping to get in the way of partying. Every year they say no more fireworks you’ll be arrested well that worked until New Years eve last year and so far it hasn’t worked at all this year. They tell you that the economy is not great here but based on last night I think it’s pretty dam good. There were some major displays going on and there not just little ones. Well as I say every Sunday this time of year it’s football Sunday. Say did any of you get to catch the Alabama Auburn game yesterday? It was by far the best game pro or college that I had seen this year. Ok we’re all going to the couch s we can nap if the games suck today. This is Fats and Flounder friend Antonia saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well I ‘ve had enough politics for awhile so lets talk about the death of music shall we. Now a lot of people fell that the music died on February 3, 1959 when the Big Booper, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. Well I don’t think so Rock and Roll was still in its infancy. It was in 1951 that Rhythm and Blues began to called Rock and Roll officially. The term had been around since the 40’s but Bill Haley’s Rock Round the clock from Blackboard Jungle took off and Allen Freed called the music Rock and Roll on his radio program in Cleveland Ohio and well the rest is history as they say. My opinion that is that the music started to die with the beginning of MTV. What you say! Are you crazy! No at least I don’t think so. Those of you that are my age (73) remember listening to groups singing on the corner or in the Subway or the Bathrooms at school. They did it with no instruments no sound or light equipment at all. We listened to the lyrics and they all held meaning for us. It wasn’t about the lite show or the dance music or the video like MJ’s Thriller it was like The Lion Sleeps Tonight or Run Around Sue. It was the sound a group of boys or girls could make harmonizing together. Now I know anybody younger than me is going to say I ‘m just an old man. But lets ask the question when was the last time you heard you favorite artist sit down and sing with ot a lite show or a sound engineer tuning their voice. I remember hearing Dion and The Four seasons on a high school stage without mikes. I remember going to Washington Square park in Greenwich Village New York and hearing people like Joan Baez, and Bod Dillon play for free on a Sunday afternoon. I can remember seeing the Rolling Stones at the Capital Theater in Passaic New Jersey for 15 bucks. There was no million dollar stage, no elaborate light show and we were close enough to see Mick and Kieth’s wrinkly faces. This up to Thriller and MTV no more home made videos now you had to spend thousands of dollars before MTV would even consider you. Then came the sexual innuendo and it wasn’t about the music anymore it was who had the better producer, sound engineer and who would wear the least amount of clothes and had the better tits. Woodstock played its own role in the death of the music when it showed that 500,000 people would travel to see Rock acts that they wouldn’t be able to get close too or really hear for that matter. After that you started paying hundreds of dollars for the same acts (only they were older) that you use to pay 15 bucks for. They started to turn concerts into big production numbers with dancing. Now if you’ve ever tried to run around and sing without huffing and puffing you will realize that the music is no longer live. Listen to the voices no one sounds like that. So yes I think the music is dead. This is Fats and Flounders friend Antonia saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well lets talk about impeachment today. I read this morning that some people think because the Trumpster went to the doctor yesterday for an unscheduled checkup that he’s going to use a medical excuse to quit. I don’t believe it. The Trumpster may be a coward but he also an egotistical bastard and that my friends will keep him from resigning. He might if it looks like he may face criminal charges, like Nixon, make some sort of deal that gives him immunity to those charges. If, and it looks like they will, the Congress votes for impeachment it will go to the Senate. The Senate hold the trial to either acquit or convict. They then can decide to censure or remove him. Based on what’s being said now they will vote to dismiss all charges and the Democrats will look like asshole for wasting so much time and money trying to convict him. That in my opinion my friends will pretty much guarantee his reelection. He, if by some chance is convicted and removed can still run for election. It is my belief that the Dems should not of pursued impeachment at this time but concentrated their efforts on denying his reelection and the removal of all the Republicans that are coming up for reelection in 2020. The Trumpster’s supporters are the same people that went nuts when Obama was elected. They are the ones that consistently used racial slurs in their criticism of him. I usually make fun of all politicians but the way people talked about Obama and the insults that were thrown around I didn’t say anything. That doesn’t mean I think he was great history will judge that not me. He did however get changes to the medical insurance done something that Bill Clinton had assigned to his wife but she was never able to do. Even today as the Trumpster makes every effort to take apart Obama Care he has no idea what to replace it with. There in lies the real reason for him to be removed. He doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s doing. He only does those thing that will benefit him and not the rest of us, but of course his minions don’t believe that. He has made promises that even if he keeps them won’t bring back manufacturing jobs or the coal industry. In short he not only the most dishonest President my generation has had, he’s also more incompetent than any. Well look it’s football Sunday and I need my weekly fix so for Flounders friend and my companion Antonia this is Fats saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Well if you really want to know how bad things are getting. I just heard that the intelligence people are saying that America is now a leading exporter of WHITE SUPREMACY RHETORIC.. that just one thing your president the Trumpster has done to make America Great Again in his own little mind. His bowing and admiring of the worlds leading despots is tell us he wants to be Emperor of the world not just the US. Some how he has convinced a segment of the country, all of whom are not radical nut jobs, that he has all the answers, is never wrong, and has the regular people in his heart. Well first we know he doesn’t have all the answers and the ones he does have only benefit him or his rich friends around the world. To have a leader that admits to admiring a man like Kim because he can get his people to sit straight up in their chairs when they are speaking should worry everybody. They aren’t sitting up in respect they are sitting up out of fear. The Trumpster wants to take this country beyond the fictional 1984 and into a world where he is Emperor. Now your saying how can I say this. Easy, he believes only he has the answers to other countries problems and that only he can solve all the worlds differences if he commands it. So far Russia is just laughing, North Korea is as well and Iran is pretty much telling us to go fuck ourselves. Wait: I just heard that Kim and North Korea want to talk again. They did this during the Korean war and while we talked they got just about everything the could want. North Viet Nam did the same thing with even better results. The Trumpster believes he’s smarter that everyone else and will be able to make a deal. He might make a deal but Korea’s will most likely cheat on it. Then sometime in the future they will just simple say fuck you. You kind of have to admire Iran,s attitude they don’t try to hide behind a lot of bullshit they simply do what they want to and say fuck you. Now the only thing I can say is unless we remove him, and there’s no guarantee we can, the world will not be a better place and America will be a lot unsafer then at any other time in its history. This is Fats and my new writing partner Antonia (who had and has Flounders complete confidence) saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia

I guess I need to change the day of my Blog, I mean it is football season and the Holidays are coming and I have an over weight Labradoodle to play around with, so maybe Sunday is not the best day we’ll see.
Now to business, you have all seen the TV and print news so you know the Democrats are trying to impeach the Trumpster. You also know that the Trumpster and his party are screaming foul. Well I’m not screaming foul but I’m yelling about it. I think giving that for anything punitive to happen the Senate has to convict him, that this is a big waste of time. Your not going to convince his followers of anything, you’ll just make them more loyal. The Republican Senate will more than likely either just throw the case out or acquit him right away. This will empower him and dis empower the Dems to the point that it will just make everything worse. The only way to get rid of him, legally that is, is to vote him and the rest out. Now if you’ve read my blog you know I hate all politicians because I think they’re all dishonest old fucks. You don’t need some deranged orange haired mental patient to bring about change in government, unless of course your tired of Democracy. You can gain change simply by removing the old pricks that are there and replacing them with younger people. So what if they don’t have all that “experience” they’ll make mistake sure but at least they will be honest ones and not ones driven by money and greed. If all your interested in is how the economy is doing your going to wake p one morning and find out you’ve been replaced by a robot built in China and controlled by either the Russians or North Koreans. We are part of a Planet not just a country. Humans think too small, all we worry about is ourselves. The many time I’ve said here that we need everybody working together if we are to survive no one listens. After all I’m just an old man with a key board. This is Fats with Flounders ghost saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

Ok first I’m sorry I’m late bt had the gran kids yesterday and well you know how it is. Now lets get down to business, I guess your wondering what that photo p there is all about, well about 6 months ago posted this for sale on the Facebook marketplace site and got a bite. This past Sunday I had a woman interested in buying this and was in the middle of negotiations when out of the blue Facebook tells me its being taken down because it doesn’t meet some standard of theres. I’m informed that I have the right to appeal and find the page fill out the appeal and submit it I’m told it will be about 48 hours before it seen. Well in less than 3 minutes it was rejected. I began to smell a rat and as it turns out I think I’m right. It would seem that if one person complains you can have the item removed or your account can be suspended for a time. This woman whose site is a fake was telling them it was a Satanic image and was promoting Satanism. I’m not real happy with Facebook for a lot of reasons this just being one. I only remain here to stay in touch with friends and complain about shit. I looking into ways to fight this shity form of censorship and we’ll have to see what kind of trouble I can make. In the mean time this is Fats saying, Flounder would really be pissed, CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.