You are smart also if you just said to yourself that Fella made a Typographical Error when he pecked out “Is” instead of “Was” because John Kennedy is dead. Fella is here to tell you that John Kennedy is not dead. That John F. Kennedy you are thinking about is dead but the John Kennedy I am pecking about is alive and well in Louisiana and serves in our “beloved” U.S. Senate.
The dead one became dead on November 22, 1963, as he riding around Dallas, Texas waving to admirers. At least one of the “admirers” did not like him very much. That’s another story for another day and not the subject of this Foolishness...Or Is It. Actually, it will not ever be the subject of one of my Blog Postings because there is not any Funny or Foolish in that story.
The John Kennedy that is still alive is a very smart fella and his Senate Interrogations of witnesses are becoming legendary. He is brilliant at getting to the Common Sense (remember Common Sense?) of things and, at the same time, being Funny and Entertaining. An example of his humor is he once said, “That bill is as dead as fried chicken”. If you are of mind to, you can spend a lot of time watching him being Funny and Entertaining on You Tube.
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Senator (the alive one) Kennedy is (like so many others in Washington, D.C.) currently on a tear about Wasteful Government Spending and one of his interrogations is the subject of today’s Blog Posting. Get ready to be Shocked and Entertained and Disbelieving about what I am about to peck out.
As you read through this Blog Posting, you are possibly going
to be tempted to think Senator Kennedy or
I made this stuff up. I have been known to lie for the sake of Foolishness but you
can believe what you are seeing because Senator Kennedy is a Senator and
Senators never lie...Or do they?
Ø
A Scam Artist stole the Social Security Number
of a Deceased Veteran.
Ø
Between 1997 and 2024 this Scam Artist received
checks intended for the Deceased Veteran that totaled somewhere around $825,000.
Ø
At some point the Veterans Administration almost
got smart and stopped sending checks to the Deceased Veteran (the Scam Artist).
Ø
If I told you that the Scam Artist said to
himself, “Oh well, it was good while it lasted”, that would be a logical and
believable ending to this Foolishness but that’s not how it ended.
Ø
What actually happened was the Scam Artist contacted
the VA, imitated the Deceased Veteran and got his (not really his) check flow
started up again.
Ø
The problem is the VA only suspected the Deceased
Veteran was Deceased but they do not know he was Deceased.
Here is how he got his money (not really his money) flowing his way again.
Ø
The Social Security Administration maintains a
Dead Master File (DMF) of Dead People so they will know who is dead.
Ø
So, if the VA suspected that our Scam Artist was
a Scam Artist, and looked at the DMF it could make the Scam Artist look
elsewhere for the money necessary to keep him living in the matter to which he
has become accustomed.
Ø
The problem is the SSA does not share their DMF
with other government agencies.
Ø
So, the VA does not know that the
Deceased Veteran is Deceased because it has no access to the DMF.
Ø
The SSA contends it is illegal for them to share
the DMF with other government agencies.
Ø
Fella, has this to say about that...Huh?!
In 2020 Senator Kennedy and a few other clear-thinking Senators tried to
stop this Not-Sharing Foolishness. It turned into big battle on the floor of
the Senate with other Senators who did not think this Obvious Foolishness was Obvious.
Ø
Senator Kennedy and his like-minded few other
clear-thinking Senators drafted a bill named something like, Stopping Dead
People From Receiving Money Act.
Ø
The bill stipulated that the SSA was to share the
DMF with other agencies.
Ø
But they ran into heated opposition.
Ø
But they still did not give up.
Ø
They compromised (Better to Get Something Rather
Than Nothing) and drafted a second bill called something like, Ending
Improper Payments To Deceased People Act.
Ø
This bill would allow access to the DMF but only
allow access for 3 years.
Ø
Unbelievably they again ran into heated
opposition.
The end result was Senator Kennedy and his
like-minded clear thinkers Got Nothing Rather Than Getting Something.
************
This Blog Posting has
been going on beyond my Don’t Make Your Blogs Too Long rule of thumb but I
could not help myself. I’m sure you’ll agree it was worth it...Or will you?
I will quickly finish up with some short ones from
Senator Kennedy.
The First One Is... Senator Kennedy asked the SSA how
many people in the Good Ole USofA were 112 years of age or older. The SSA told him
the number was 6,500,000. Senator Kennedy and Fella do not believe that number.
The Second One Is... A deceased Ohio woman’s
family members collected her Social Security for 48 years before the SSA
figured out what they were up to and put a stop to it.
The Third One Is... Our government sent $1.4
Billion COVID Stimulus Checks to dead people.
The Last One Is... Our government made $2.9
Trillion in improper payments since 2004.
These dead people are dead, but the checks sent to them
are still being cashed. I always knew that dead people could vote but, until
now, I did not know they retained the ability to cash checks.
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
