Author: Tom Fitzpatrick

Life

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We moved. One of the onerous tasks involved in any move is changing my address with the various institutions I do business with. In the past this could be done by two simple actions. The first was making a phone call to the institution. The second was a letter to the institution.

In 2026, due to the wonders of modern technology this can be done with a quick visit to the institution’s website. Quick is the operative word here. What would seem like a quick tick of a few boxes in order to retrieve my address has turned into a major production which now involves a trouble ticket to the USA Government one logon for all agencies help desk.

The steps so far:

After my initial logon into Medicare web site, I received a message telling me they were sending a code in order to verify my identity. Done.

They then asked what I wanted to do. I told them change my address which they informed me I could do by choosing one of the four pathways into the Federal Government’s web site. I chose the one I already knew I had a log on in — the USA Government one logon for all federal agencies.

I was informed that I would have to verify my identity yet again. I had to photograph my driver’s license (both sides) and then take a photo of myself. The computer then verified that my driver’s license and photo matched.

I had to verify my social security number.

Then my address appeared on the screen with the option to edit. I tried to edit but I received an unhelpful message informing me that there was an error in my address — most likely my social security number. I checked it was correct. I reviewed my address. It was correct. I tried again to enter. The system found an error in my address but did not point to what the problem was.

I noticed that there was a chat feature. I tried. But before I could chat, I had to verify that I wasn’t a robot. I tried but for some reason I must have missed one of the squares with a car. I tried again but I kept getting a new screen with the same instruction to mark all the squares with a car. I tried several times and each time a new set of pictures appeared with an instruction to mark all the squares with a car. I couldn’t get into chat.

So I searched for a phone number. This proved more difficult than I anticipated as it was nowhere to be found. What ever page appeared on my screen also kept giving me a message that all I had to do was use their system and that it would be a whole lot quicker and easier if just used the internet to change my address. I laughed at this little joke.

Finally, after searching for a few minutes I was able to find a phone number. I called.

I was greeted with an automated message. She asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I just wanted to change my address for Medicare. She told me that I could do this on line and directed me to the USA Government one logon for all federal agencies web site. I screamed numerous times “agent” loudly and clearly. I waited. After a bit of a delay, the automated voice returned. She thanked me for my time and disconnected the line.

I went back to the website and after vigorously depressing a few keys I came upon a screen that allowed me to complete a trouble ticket to their help desk. I completed. I should have an answer within 24 hours.

All this to change my address which, if I talked to an actual human being, I am fairly certain could be done in less than a minute.

But, no, I had to use the easier and quicker web site.

My address has not been changed after about 45 minutes of trying.

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Mike Lindell lost the Minnesota Republican governor nomination by about 45,000 votes. Because this doesn’t even come close to Minnesota’s threshold for a state funded recount, the losing candidate has to pay for the recount. Lindell want that recount so he must pay close to a million dollars for this recount. A recount that he will surely lose. Throwing one million dollars down the drain to learn something that you already knew for free.

Now I am only too glad that he is spending money on this losing cause since this means this million bucks can’t be used to defeat Democratic candidates later. It still sticks in my craw though. It is an insult to anyone who a million dollars actually means something.

It is also depressing because his hidden motive is to discredit American elections. He doesn’t care that he will lose a million because he is publicizing his belief that the American election system is a fraud and it isn’t to be trusted. Any speculation about fraud just adds fuel to the fire. But, hey, it is his million dollars, right?

This is precisely the problem. This isn’t money to reinvest in his business or to buy a home or even to keep his mistress in jewels and chocolates. It is to discover that he has lost an election. Something he already knows.

Anyone making so much money that they can throw it away in such a careless manner simply has too much money. The money would be better spent giving every derelict in Los Angeles a steak dinners and a bottle of whiskey — at least someone would be happy in the end. But no Lindell wants a recount just for the thrill of undermining the integrity of American Elections. That is it.

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I haven’t been to a concert in quite some time but apparently pooping in your seat so you don’t miss any of the show is now a thing.

Well, I don’t know what to say about this except I don’t think missing a few minutes of a concert, and I am talking about the Beatles here or the Rolling Stones or anyone for that matter, would cause me ever to decide to take a dump on my seat at a concert in front of thousands of other people just because I don’t want to miss “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” What the fucking fuck. WTFF.

And this article is blaming it on kids brought up during COVID. You mean that kids who were brought up to wash their hands a million times a day and wear a face mask to stop the spread of disease are going to find it perfectly OK to spread their diseased filled fecal matter to thousands of unsuspecting music fans? Huh?

GEEZUS.

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What kind of asshole kicks a sea lion? For fun? And his friends laughed? So, what a bunch of assholes. To top it off, also kind of stupid because what would have happened if the sea lion decided to fight back?

Don’t say this is typical teen age fun either. Hurting an animal for your own amusement is sadism and is unacceptable. Let’s see what happens to the young man at sentencing. Not much, I am afraid.

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I am a little skeptical of reports that the US Navy is having difficulty resupplying ships stationed in the Middle East. The US Navy has had ships going all over the globe since World War II. So they have had over 80 years experience in this type of operation. Now I can see them running short of weapons as a lot of missiles and bombs have been depleted due to use in the war and it would take time for new weapons to be made. But food and toiletries? How can that be?

Yes, the Abraham Lincoln has had their tour of duty extended. But why is this such a hurdle? Supply ships should be able to get to it without difficulty? Can’t they fill up a couple of planes full of food send them to Middle East and keep on flying them until the ships are resupplied? I haven’t heard about attacks of resupply ships, so what is happening to keep these ships from being resupplied?

The reports of attempted suicides are troubling as well. Is this just low morale based on having the tour of duty extended? Or is this just normal wear and tear of people confined to a ship for too long? How many suicide attempts are there in a tour? Can’t they rotate people out of the ship and replace them with fresh sailors?

The Lincoln is not isolated in the ocean. People can get to it. Replaced supplies and staff should be a no brainer.

Am I missing something from this report.

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I saw this ridiculous meme the other day about why you should be a Christian. 17th Century philosopher Blaise Pascal first proposed it and it is a doozy.

The crux of the idea is that believing in God is harmless. What do you lose if there is no God. When you die and there is no God, you get buried and that is that. You are dead. On the other hand, if you act like you believe, you gain eternal life. It is worth the gamble.

Huh? I mean huh? The all seeing all knowing God isn’t going to catch on that I am faking it. My understanding of Christianity is that you have to believe in order to gain heaven. Faking it doesn’t quite work for God and He doesn’t give you credit for trying.

By the way this is also a God who I am supposed to be terrified of because he knows all my sins. If tricking Him is this easy, I’m sure I could also get away with a few sins as well.

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Things I ask myself now, at 69, before getting on the floor:

1.) Is what I am going to do on the floor worth the effort to get off the floor when I am done?

2.) Is there anything near that I can use to leverage myself off of the floor when I am need to stand up?

3.) Can this wait until there are more things on the floor that I need in order to maximize my floor experience? Honestly, why pick up an errant spoon when you can wait for the knife and fork to fall later.

4.) Can this wait until a more youthful friend (say late 50’s) shows up and I can casually ask them to help me like I just noticed it now?

5.) Will anyone really notice if I don’t do what needs to be done of the floor? A good kick towards the couch will hide anything you don’t really need to immediately retrieve.

6.) Is there a pillow within grabbing distance so if I have to stay longer on the floor than necessary I can, at least, be comfortable?

7.) Do I have my cell phone in case I find myself unable to get off of the floor?

8.) Do I have enough clothes on so that nobody, particularly me, is embarrassed if I need to call someone to get me off the floor?

9.) Should I leave the door unlocked so the person who is rescuing me has easy access to my apartment?

10) Why is it that everything I need right now is on the floor?

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I was laying in bed this morning thinking about what important issue I was going to tackle today in my blog. Yes, dear reader, this is how seriously I take my blogging. It is the first thing I think about in the morning. Any way, enough about me, I remembered seeing in the Huffington Post’s headlines a post about J.D. Vance’s Astrological Chart. See below. I also provide a link to the actual chart if you are so inclined to pursue this type of prognostication device to understand the future of our vice-president.

I do not however and it occurred to me that I have been scrolling by these posts without much thought.

Now, first, I have to confess I like a good astrological chart as much as the next guy but J.D. Vance’s seems like a big waste of space. I realize this is in the Life section of Huffpost, so media outlets have a lot of leeway about what goes in the section. It should be fun — advice columns, crossword puzzles, comics and general astrological predictions. So, for example, my astrological sign is Cancer. I would be perfectly fine with an astrological column saying something like “Cancers will wake up this morning with a startling realization about the media.” This is harmless fun. I could laugh about and say yes that’s what happened to me.

But J.D. Vance’s astrological chart isn’t really an appropriate Life posting. J.D. Vance is a major political figure in a position of power. Providing space for an astrologer to speculate about his future is waste of time and space. The reading is, as almost all astrological readings are, vague and could conceivably apply to any number of people sharing his astrological sign or not. And what have I learned about Vance — that his sun sign is Leo and he is a Leo rising is hardly worth troubling my eyes to pursue.

This is worse than a gossip column in that, at least with gossip, you may be getting the truth about a famous person. Yes I don’t have anything to do with this person, it will in no way help me in my life and is certainly a waste of my time — but it may be true. And there is something important about the truth. While an astrological chart is giving you ambiguous information that is relevant only to the person who’s chart the astrologer is reading. A chart, by the way, that this person will probably never read. Helpful right?

To further disappoint my expectations in the Huffington Post, they think this post is so important to actually highlight that they have an article about J.D. Vance’s astrological chart. Instead of hiding this post in a hard to find place so people won’t realize the bullshit they are posting, they are proudly highlighting it for everyone to see. They are actually wanting people to read it. Their shameless pandering knows no bounds. I am gobsmacked.

Finally, I am disappointed in myself because I’ve been seeing these astrological posts of current political figures for some time and hadn’t thought a thing about it. My obliviousness to bullshit now is remarkably high. Just more bullshit on the bullshit pile. I go to the next post without giving it a second thought. It took actual time for me to reach the bullshit conclusion which means how much bull shit am I missing?

This is truly scary.

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Bernie Sanders and James Carville are having a disagreement about the rising power of the Democratic Socialists. Sanders even suggested that Carville should think about starting a different party which is, with all due respect to Bernie here, the worst possible suggestion he could make.

It is important to remember that the Democratic Socialists may be winning some of these close primary races but they are close races. El-Sayed beat Stevens by less than 16,000 votes out of 1,500,000 votes cast. He needs the Stevens’ votes to win the seat in November. When your win is narrow, and you need the votes of the person you just defeated to win the next contest, a moment of humility and grace might be the better approach than gloating and rubbing the defeated’s nose in their loss.

Carville, who, after all, worked on the Bill Clinton’s winning team, has a lot to offer in the way of political advice. He is not a part of the Republican disinformation machine. He is a loyal Democrat. That he is concerned about how the Democratic Socialist’s are behaving should give one pause.

Perhaps what appeals to left wing Democrats isn’t particularly appealing to more moderate Democrats, so say nothing of Independents and unhappy Republicans. Millions of Americans choose Donald Trump as the lesser of two evils in three very close elections. This should disturb every Democrat. People knowingly picked an incompetent asshole because they were more afraid of the Democratic Party than they were of Donald Trump. This is a big problem.

American political parties are umbrellas that cover large groups of various interests. These groups don’t always agree. That is OK. In order to win elections, you do, however, have to keep everyone under the same umbrella. This is a difficult task. Telling someone to leave is political suicide if you can’t replace them with someone who can bring in the same number of votes. This makes moderate Democrats essential if we are going to win in November.

I would be more impressed with the Democratic Socialists if they were now spending some time trying to win over people like Carville instead of alienating them. I am hoping this is the temporary flush of victory and they will come to their senses soon, but so far they look like a bunch of assholes who think they are unbeatable. I am afraid they are beatable.

The goal here is to get remove as many Republicans from office as possible. Keep your eyes on the ball.