Then I started thinking about what next. I have been suffering a little bit of a conscience crisis the last few weeks because of my affinity for the poorest people in that part of the world. As many people may remember, I have talked now and again about my adventures in north east Afghanistan in 2002, when I deployed there as an Army reservist to win hearts and minds. As I also said before, we had very mixed results, and then none at all.

I have written a couple of articles about Palestine since October of 2023, but then, like a lot of people, the constant barrage of news feeds showing all of the devastation and brutality became too much for me and I watched but said little in the last couple of years. I decided it's time to revisit Palestine again for a couple of podcast episodes to take me away from all of the toxic politics taking place in the U.S.

I'm tired of always seeing Trump in my headlights everywhere I go. I've decided that I will watch to a degree but talking about him is starting to go on deaf ears. A lot of people around the world are starting to move away from what's going on in the U.S. and finding ways to circumvent the damage he is doing everywhere. They're all finally realising that being too dependent on the Americans was a bad idea. They all have buyers remorse and are now shifting trade and money to China, which has become the worlds manufacturing hub for now.

With that in mind, I want to pivot back to the middle east again. Maybe I can piss a few people off along the way to make me smile. I'm also starting to focus more attention on selling my first dystopian fiction novel, as I work more on finishing the next book in the series.

I am going to my local Barnes & Noble book store next Saturday to learn how to set up and manage a book signing event, which I have one scheduled for July. I will post more details as I learn more. I do have a date but I'll hang on to that until we get closer to go time. This far out, I want to make sure I have a solid date and time before I go around advertising it to everyone.

My wife and I are getting ready to watch the last season of Homeland on Netflix. It has been an eye opener for sure, especially for my wife, after I repeatedly pointed out certain plots that mirrored real life events. I'm curious to see what the story line will be for this season 8 we're getting ready to start watching. It's the last season they offer so it should be interesting.

Who knew back in 2023, when I wrote the story for Fugitives in a New United States, that the story would start to imitate real life in so many ways. In my book, I weave into the story about how the government in the late 2020's, after Trump is gone, told all immigrants to leave the country or be rounded up, regardless of status, and placed in labour camps across the country. My main character is a fugitive on the run as the Homeland Security forces continue to go after people who are either of colour or working in prohibited vocations, such as non-government controlled OBGYN and medical care for unauthorised people.

In the U.S., we now have concentration camps, mass deportations, and a near total ban on immigration for people around the world who are not Caucasian. While not exactly like the dystopian landscape I depict in my book, the parallels are striking. The poverty levels are also starting to mirror my story as well. Some things haven't come to pass, yet, but will they? Did I predict the future of the United States back in 2023 when I wrote this book?

In other news, I recently thought hard about converting my computer operating systems from Windows 11 to a Linux distribution. The question became in the last couple of days, which one, as there are many out there now. Then I thought about it some more after watching a YouTube video this morning. I would also have to convert my network server, currently running Windows 19 server, over to a Samba server system and reconnect everything. That's when I decided to leave well enough alone. As much as I dislike Microsoft and it predatory products, I'm not ready to take down my whole network and rebuild it with Linux systems just yet. We're talking days and maybe weeks worth of intensive IT reconstruction and I don't know of any company that would do that without a lot of soul searching.

I do see into the future a little bit on this. There are more and more news stories coming out about Microsoft. More and more entities are dumping Windows for Linux OS systems, the EU being the most notable lately. Which is what prompted me to look into it. I think I will just stick to my original idea of buying a cheap laptop and installing a Linux system on it for travelling. I won't be able to connect to my Windows server network, but I may be able to connect, via VPN, to my other server, which is operating on a Linux platform.

My current laptop is starting to wear out. The touch pad is barely able to function anymore, and the plastic casing is showing some wear and tear these days. I bought it back in 2020 to use while I travelled across the country during my move to Virginia, and to use on the road when I travelled around the country after that. It still does what I want it to, as far as computing and processing applications, but, with physical parts starting to wear out, and Dell not supporting this model anymore, it may not last much longer. I may be forced to switch it out by next year, if not sooner. But the question remains, should I replace this one with a Linux system? It certainly would keep Microsoft out of my personal business. I'm thinking that I need to do some more research before making the final decision. That and coming up with several hundred dollars for another good quality laptop. Although I hear that Lenovo, now the world's largest computer maker, is offering price reductions for customers who want to run a Linux OS instead of Windows. Basically taking out the expensive Microsoft license fee as Linux systems are open source and free.

I realise that I was geeking out here but as this blog is for me to air out what's on my mind, regardless of what I'm thinking about, maybe someone else can benefit from my thinking out loud. As always, if anyone reading this wants to comment, feel free. If anyone has any ideas about PC operating systems, please drop me a line. I will need to make a decision soon I suspect.

Take care everyone and I'll talk more about the world we find ourselves in again soon. Sláinte