Burdened by What Used to Be

Today is the Fourth of July, and I am smoking ribs with my family.

Nothing fancy today. Spare ribs (not dry baby backs), Robert Irvine’s coleslaw recipe, Texas toast made with homemade bread, corn on the cob, BBQ beans, vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries.

All in one big bowl.

I wish.

I am considering preparing a box of Trader Joe’s macaroni and cheese. We bought some in order to see if my son would eat it, but we have been cutting carbs, so we haven’t managed to use it yet. Might as well fix it before it gets stale.

I am using my Smokin-It electric smoker. Got it a few years back. I eventually sprang for the stainless cart with casters. It does a wonderful job, but because it’s electric, you don’t get a smoke ring. You can’t taste a smoke ring, so it shouldn’t matter. You can fake it by adding pink curing salt to your rub. Somehow or other, this makes the ring appear.

The smoker is a little annoying. I have ground fault circuits on my back porch, and I can’t use the smoker anywhere else without a lot of inconvenience. It has never worked on one of the outlets, and today it popped the other one after maybe an hour. I am watching it closely in case I have to keep turning it back on.

I don’t know what’s happening. I should try to fix it. The problem with the first outlet suggests the outlet itself is not right, but popping the second one after quite a while makes me wonder if the second one is going bad or the smoker’s element is dying.

I don’t use it much, so it shouldn’t have problems.

I have gone through a bunch of wireless thermometers in my smoking journey. My latest one is an Inkbird. It connects to wifi, not just Bluetooth, so you can find out your smoker isn’t working from across the globe. The old ones were useless if I moved around the house.

I have to give Trump credit. He has made me feel somewhat more patriotic.

I love America, but America doesn’t love me the way it used to, and loyalty matters. The God-haters are gradually taking over, regardless of recent election successes on the right. Antisemitism is everywhere. Men are now allowed to strip naked in front of young girls in locker rooms and display their excitement. We have parades in which naked homosexuals march in front of babies and children, and the only way to get in trouble is to complain about it.

We will probably lose the House and Senate, and there is a high probability we will have a Democrat president in 2029. Democrats are, stupidly, talking about packing the Supreme Court. I guess the new thing will be for every president to add friendly justices until we have a few thousand of them. If Democrats take over, there will be a campaign of vengeance that, in the eyes of many reasonable people, may make civil war seem preferable to submission and continuous torment.

Some people say, “My country, right or wrong.” That’s stupid. That kind of thinking kept Jews in Germany and Austria in the Thirties. When your country is out to get you, it’s time to forget patriotism and look for an ark. My loyalty hierarchy goes God, family, country, in that order. I hate to think of renouncing my citizenship and moving, given all my memories of the wonderful country America was in the past, but I would do it if it made sense.

I’m not letting teachers put my son in a dress or teach him that socialism works or that his white dad is evil. I’m not letting doctors tell him he should have himself castrated. I won’t let murderous leftists come and take what we have or separate us. If the US tries to make these things happen, the US can drop dead, plain and simple. I can only support it while it is safe for my loved ones and me.

These things being said, I’m glad Trump is reminding us what it was like to have a nation we didn’t have to be ashamed of. He isn’t inviting transvestites to dance at the White House. He’s cleaning up our monuments. He’s giving us a partial, temporary restoration of common sense.

I have enjoyed watching videos of foreign World Cup tourists praising America. On the other hand, I wonder if the phenomenon has been orchestrated.

People came to watch soccer, and they started making videos in which they expressed surprise and joy to see that Americans are friendly, our food is much better than ours, our country is still beautiful, and we have greater abundance. It’s refreshing. Still…how can it not be fake news?

Tourists have been coming here since the Vikings. By now, they should know what America is like, yet Europeans are acting as though they knew nothing about America until last month. It’s hard to believe there is no astroturfing involved.

One possible explanation: the sad European habit of visiting our worst representatives. They flock to New York, Los Angeles, and Miami Beach. You have to be extremely misguided to think these are even top-100 US destinations.

I ran into a tourist in Europe, and he started telling me about his upcoming trip to Miami Beach. I guess I ruined his day, because I tried to discourage him. I told him Miamians were trashy and rude. I told him beaches on the Gulf coast and the Bahamas were much better. I suppose I should have considered the fact that he didn’t have endless vacation money or time, and I should have realized he probably couldn’t change his plans.

It’s easy for tourists to make bad choices. My wife and I visited Ireland, and while I would not call it a mistake (our choices were limited), it was a colossal waste of time and money compared to European countries like France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Greece.

Dublin and Galway are dumpy towns. Irish food, as we experienced it in Dublin, Galway, Dingle, and Killarney, is generally bad. There isn’t much to see. Lodging is hit-and-miss. The sweaters they sell are junk, like most of the tourist goods. The people were very nice, but overall, I thought Ireland was a great place to buy a rural hideout and enjoy solitude occasionally, not a good place to spend two precious vacation weeks.

When you’re on vacation, you want memorable sights, fun experiences, and great food, not ugly towns that look and feel like blue-collar Boston.

I think Americans go to Ireland thinking everyone there is a cute, witty little drunk like the ones Barry Fitzgerald played, and they expect villages full of people like the cast of The Quiet Man, but we ran into a lot of immigrants who were less Irish than I am, which is saying a lot. A whole bunch of the actual Irish left a long time ago. We didn’t experience witty banter or amusing antics.

Now that I think about it, I have not found Irish people to be any more funny or witty than anyone else, here or in Ireland. Maybe the whole business of the Irish wit and color is an American misconception.

We were also surprised by destinations that turned out to be much more enjoyable than we expected. Singapore is our favorite place on Earth, and we also liked Hong Kong. Sometimes we fantasize aloud about moving to Singapore. We just need Elon Musk to send us the money.

Anyway, I guess I ruined that guy’s vacation.

I don’t know if the frothy World Cup tourist videos are staged or not, but I have enjoyed watching them. Surely some of the tourists are sincere, and they helped me remember how great America still is, for people who live in certain areas. They loved the same things I love. Buc-Ee’s. Bass Pro. Costco. Big cars. Air conditioning. Friendly human beings.

They seem obsessed with ranch dressing. I can take it or leave it.

I’m in the reddest area of what is becoming one of the reddest states, so today, it will feel like I’m still living in the real America. These days, I count the days. I realize the good days are ticking away, and they are numbered. I try to appreciate the little bit of America I still have left. I don’t want to think about 2029.

I hope God has a plan to rescue us.