Ukraine, Elon, BEing energy self-sufficient & free speech absolutism
It’s still quite difficult to discern what exactly is happening on the ground in Ukraine.
Appreciated this tweet from Elon Musk:
And tbh, me wading through the different details is not productive. Though I couldn’t agree more that censoring - even when it may be propaganda (which, if we’re honest, much of what the US population is served up daily could easily be categorized as) …. totally not cool.
Anyway - back to the war on the ground in Ukraine.
Nothing I can do from over here but be a witness to their needs. And Need is my distraction (Human Design thing) so … lots of video showing bombing and military vehicles running people over and captured soldiers calling their mothers … that’s for someone else to be minding.
But still, there are other details that aren’t directly related to what’s actually happening on the ground that are about how my country (the US) is being that do have to do with foundational choices that have been made and understanding how policies and executive order decisions made at the Federal level can swing our quality of life on a more personal level from one extreme to another.
Who we vote in during the next two election cycles matters a great deal (speaking here about the midterms coming up in November 22 and the presidential election in 2024)
And Ukraine is showing us in real time that there are global implications too.
Still even all of those details are a lot to wrap our minds around, well, mine anyway.
Last night I watched a Glenn Beck video (okay I’ll agree, he’s a bit of an alarmist and sometimes too God focused for my taste; my husband’s beef is his fervent book self-promotion - it is what it is) that laid out quite clearly what we’re facing because we’re not energy independent. And lends some history (and current banking observations) to the problem in just a few minutes. Helpful.
One thing listening to that has done is flipped a final switch in me (was already of this mind - in theory) into mild prepper mode - ie. I’ve stopped thinking about kitchen renovations (well, a trip to Home Depot the other day helped with that too - the price of materials is skyrocketing and delivery dates are weeks and months out) and turned instead to garden digging, soil amending, and pantry stocking.
Last night we topped off our gas tanks for $4.03/gal. More than double what it was just over a year ago.
Then this morning I got to watch this first thing - and I feel oddly at ease with everything.
I think it’s his way of cutting right to the chase and saying everything in a matter of fact way. Irony laced and frank. His own opinions clearly stated and not pretending to be otherwise.
Clearly the solution (on a country AND personal level) is to strive to be energy and resource independent.
Which is at odds with so many of the moves that the current US administration has made, it’s hard to believe that anyone can look at this first year in office (heck the first day is when he shut down the Keystone pipeline) and actually prefer this over what we had the last 4 years - results are stark. And yet, some people really can’t get past their dislike of the person. And appear to prefer to go down with a moral stance ship. Not the hill I’m interested in dying on, but here we find ourselves.
And then you gotta wonder about what’s up with nuclear energy. Found this article which points to further government interference - meant to support Green energy expansion but has the effect of nuclear facilities not being able to afford to stay open and - ironically - increased dependence on natural gas)
Anyway … now it feels like I’m down in the weeds (again lol).
Here’s the video that I really appreciated this morning - not because it cheered me up (though I did chuckle a few times) … but I think because it helped me feel sane.
Which does bring a certain resigned calm to my mind.
Maybe it can offer you the same.