Cead Fáilte
A thousand Welcomes to The Village Oak Tree for July 17th, 2024
Where to start. Normally I would start from the beginning but it seems the bad news never ends these days.
The podcast for today was recorded last Saturday afternoon when things were chaotic but just the normal chaos that we deal with every week nowadays. Little did we know.
We spent a couple of hours talking about how Frances Chiu has been unable to repair her air conditioner for the last two years due a lack of money. We all discussed the extremely hot and humid summer everyone is enduring. Mitch, down in Florida, is worried about the next hurricane.
I installed solar panels on my roof in central Virginia late last year and they have saved me hundreds of dollars already and dropped my carbon footprint down dramatically this summer. I checked my Kwh’s produced versus usage rate yesterday and I am still producing more than I am using. Yay team.
I have had more hundred plus degree days in the last month than I have ever had since I moved here nearly four years ago. I have had more seventy plus percent humidity days in the last month since I moved here nearly four years ago. And it’s only mid-July! People still want to deny global warming. They must be living in a cool cave somewhere and never going out into the sun.
I think this weather is here to stay folks, sorry to say. All of the leading experts are telling us that. It’s time to listen. We can expect more summers like this going forward. Like all things, bad news isn’t singular. We talk about politics and the usual backyard BBQ, over the fence topics that everyone is talking about these days but is afraid to say out loud.
Come join the discussion with likes, subscribes and replies on the podcast above to see if our lives mirror your own in some ways where ever you live in the world.
Soo, how about the elephant in the room since last Saturday night? Everyone around the world is talking about it, including me. I am afraid that despite my research, I jumped the gun too fast last Sunday and new information came out on Monday that made my Sunday Edition look pretty sad. I am a little embarrassed about it now so I won’t share it here.
I did read chapter four of Michael Campi’s The Priest at the end so maybe it’s not a total loss. If you are interested in watching the video, it is on my YouTube channel here, Crann na beatha.
As I mentioned in Sunday’s half hour Op Ed, those shots were heard around the world very quickly Saturday night. The sad part is that it overshadowed everything else going on in the world, notably Gaza and Ukraine, and it continues to do so in the United States and, to an extent, the western world.
Israel is still massacring's Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by bombing schools this week. Russia is still killing more Ukrainians with no end in sight for either places. Yet, the biggest story on the planet is Donald Trump getting his ear nicked by a semi-skilled shooter with a sub-par AR-15 style rifle.
I won’t try to throw any details at you because you have probably already heard the same things that I have so far, and maybe more. Although, I will add one thing here. According to some former government experts who watched the videos I watched and more, it seriously looks like it may have been more than just some disgruntled nut job with an axe to grind with King Donald.
Shades of JFK, Jr. in 1963? I leave it to you to decide or not. I, for one, would not have shed any tears over Donald Trump if this young man had succeeded. I don’t condone violence for violence sakes but karma is a bitch.
I can’t say whether the world would breath a little easier if Donald Trump were no longer around to stir up trouble. We can all just imagine the martyrdom that the MAGA cult would bestow on him like the second coming of Elvis if he had been taken out last Saturday. I am not sure which is worse right now. I guess we will just have to let it ride like throwing dice in Las Vegas and wait to see what happens.
I am seeing more and more American experts expressing disgust and resignation that the United States is a failing empire now. The people in charge just don’t want to admit it and that is only hastening the fall. My question is; What about us? Don’t we get a say in how things should be doing?
All of this focus on Donald Trump and the MAGA cult is reminiscent of stories about the end of the Roman Empire when the emperors and politicians kept intensifying the games in the coliseum to placate the restless masses.
The only thing I am intensifying are my preparations to ride out the collapse when it comes. We are stocking up on things a little more, doing more canning and freezing of garden vegetables, buying extra non-perishable foods that can stay good for long periods.
My only regret at this stage is that I didn’t have enough money to install a storage battery system for my solar panels. I hope I can manage in the short term until I can save up enough money to install something soon. it isn’t looking good anymore and I don’t want to be dependent on my utility company for electricity. It’s bad enough I have to depend on others for clean water and natural gas to cook and keep warm with. Although, I could manage without the gas if push came to shove. No clean water though, things might get dire without that.
My local Internet Service Provider, one of the countries leading providers, is starting to unravel a bit now. I had an outage Tuesday morning at 0208 am, according to my IT logs, that lasted until 1000 hrs. that morning. That is a first for me here and I am paying for the best service they have short of business class. Another sign that the infrastructure in this country is failing fast due to lack of investment.
The federal government is beyond broke and the corporations never pay for anything unless someone forces them to or subsidizes it, like the government. This is just the beginning. Give it a couple more years. Should I sign up for Musk’s Starlink service?
With everything going on all at once now, the end of the American experiment is on the horizon. Something else will rise from the landfill once called the United States of America but it won’t look like the old U.S. of A. anymore, at all.
We have other large countries vying to take over the superpower status from the U.S. and winning. We have made so many enemies across the world now that they are starting to gang up a little bit and bite back. Little things like letting the new wannabe superpowers set up military style equipment next door in a back yard we have little control over. I can’t imagine why?
As one expert said on a foreign podcast today, how long before the U.S. pisses off the Mexican and Canadian governments to the point that they let the same wannabe superpowers to hang out with them in their fenced in back yards? I can just hear the Mexican president saying to the U.S president, whomever that may be someday, “Ohh, you don’t like our new friends? Too bad, soo sad.”
I read about more and more Americans who are trying to bail on the United States and move to Portugal, Mexico, Spain and so on. What about those of us who don’t have that kind of money to throw around?
Not that I want to relocate to the Costa de’ l’ Azure these days anyway with global warming getting worse every year. That, and I am reading that the natives are starting to get a little restless over all of the arrogant Americans showing up and buying up all of the good real estate, which drives up the prices for them. Why does that sound familiar?
How much longer before Americans start seeing signs saying, “Gringos not Welcome” or countries passing laws preventing Americans from buying real estate unless they are citizens. Again, why does this sound familiar?
Oh, I know, that’s what Americans do to non-citizens in the United States. But, what’s good for the goose is only good for the gander if you are an American, or at least that’s what they tell the rest of the world.
As I said about Donald Trump at the top of this letter, karma is a bitch. This applies to all of the arrogant Americans who continue to think that they are the morally superior country and citizens of the greatest country on the planet. Karma is coming for all of us here in the U.S. soon. That bill is way past overdue.
My advice for anyone living in the United States that immigrated here from another country, start preparing now. Because when these arrogant, morally superior, native born Americans finally have the world tap turned off and the not welcome signs posted in the store windows around the world someday soon, the crying will be loud and furious and they will take out their spoiled anger on anyone around them that isn’t like them.
You’ve been warned.
If you want a look at what the United States might look like in a few years after the collapse, read my dystopian fiction that is starting to look more like a prediction of the near future more and more now. It is available at all major online book stores around the world in eBook, paperback or hardcover, for those who like to collect such things. I also have a small online bookstore in my website at www.crann-na-beatha.com, where visitors can buy direct from the author and I will ship immediately anywhere in the world. I will even add a signature script inside the cover if so desired. I have both paperback and hardcover editions just waiting for a new home.
That’s all I have again this week. I am grateful to everyone who reads and listens to me go off on the powers that be every week. Rest assured, I am nowhere near finished by any means. I hope to offer all of you more insights on the world around us again next week. Until then, Sláinte
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. “May your hand always be stretched out in friendship and never in want” Slán go fóill.
T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí
References:
New Cuban radar site near US military base could aid China spying – report
CSIS calls site near Guantánamo a ‘powerful tool’ that will be able to monitor air and maritime activity of US military
US expels more than 100 Chinese migrants in rare mass deportation
China Is Winning The 21st Century and There’s Nothing The West Can Do About It.
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
A Snapshot of an Empire in Decline
The Priest
Formerly known as Bob. (part 4)
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