We are in Brookings, Oregon now, staying in the At River’s Edge RV Resort on the Chetco River.
This is a very nice RV park and we are staying in Space 131 which, in my opinion, is the best site on the property. The nose of our parked RV is right at the edge of the riverbank, so our view out the windshield is the river and the thick forest which ascends up a thousand feet or so.
It’s a beautiful mountain scene. The park is about 1-1/2 miles upstream from Brookings Harbor, so we get the “ocean effect” of fog and overcast in the a.m. followed by sunshine in the afternoon. Yesterday was quite sunny, with the temperature reaching the upper 70’s.
There’s only one problem with this RV resort: it’s surrounded by mountains, which means that the Verizon cell phone signal is crummy. Phone calls are okay, but data transmission is marginal. This impacts Charlie when she is trying to do work with banks and the like, or attempting to link up with her siblings via a Zoom conference. It also makes sending/receiving photos and other images problematic. I have a 5G phone but am limited to a couple of bars of LTE.
That sucks.
Our good friends Dan and Peggy Quinn have recently installed Starlink in their rig. It is the fancy system created by Elon Musk’s company and made possible by all the satellites that he has launched via Space X. Starlink is a space-based data transmission system, much like the Dish TV system that we use in the RV.
We bit the bullet today and ordered Starlink RV. It should be delivered here within the next two weeks. Cost was $650 for equipment, plus we will need to pay $135 per month for unlimited high-speed data. One good thing about Starlink RV is that we can discontinue the service when we aren’t using the RV.
Hopefully, this will solve our communications problem when we’re in sketchy locales.
My gosh, the bathrooms here in this RV park are super nice, clean, and well-maintained. There’s only one problem, though: they have PAY showers! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before in any of the places that we’ve stayed. It’s only $0.25 for eight minutes, $0.50 for sixteen minutes, and there’s plenty of hot water. It could be that the paying thing is about water conservation, as that is a big thing in the West nowadays. However, we’re located adjacent to a flowing RIVER, so maybe the charge thing is just a way to put a few more jingles in the park owner’s purse.
Because we use Dish TV for entertainment, and we have no high-speed data available to us here (until we get Starlink!), then we cannot stream any content from the Internet like YouTube, Discovery Plus, Paramount, or others. Thus, for the time being, we are stuck with Dish TV programming, which includes lots of re-runs and junk channels.
Consequently, Charlie and I watch a lot of home remodeling shows and crime dramas. Most of them we’ve seen before but, hey, we’re bored but highly informed about these subjects. I could probably build a house from scratch or commit a perfect crime with all the knowledge that I’ve absorbed.
Speaking of “real” crime dramas, of which we’ve seen hundreds, it seems that there are two basic types: the ones that take place in urban areas, where the perps and their victims are almost always people of color; and the ones that take place in the “heartland” of the U.S., where the perps and suspects are usually Caucasian. Urban crime is usually drug/gang related or domestic abuse gone beserk, and the stuff out in the Bible Belt tends to be economic crime-related/domestic violence and weird sexual crimes/love triangles/kidnapping/rape atrocities.
It always annoys me that the introduction to a “heartland” crime drama notes that the community where the crime occurred is “a small town where everyone knows each other, goes to church together, and is very tight knit”. Yeah, that’s all cool, but then we find out that the Mayor, or the police chief, or the guy who owns the car dealership is as dirty as Satan. Sometimes, the culprit in a grisly abduction/murder of a child turns out to be the Boy Scout troop leader or a church pastor. What the Hell!
There’s only one problem with believing that certain groups of citizens are inherently bad: the truth is that there are bad guys (and some bad ladies) in every community and that sex, greed, jealously and anger can make even God-fearing citizens do some God-awful things.
Speaking of human misjudgment and folly, we are a bit annoyed every time a home remodeler/design expert enters a home and starts identifying features that are “dated”. Things like kitchen peninsulas, popcorn ceilings, carpeting, one-sink vanities in bathrooms, natural wood cabinets, and such are, in the opinion of the remodeler, so gauche, so passe that they are something to sneer at. But, wait a minute! Back in the day, those items were considered stylish, just like the luxury vinyl flooring, the must-have kitchen “island”, the stainless-steel kitchen appliances, the farmhouse sink, the white kitchen cabinets, etc. that everyone must have in the 2020’s.
There’s only one problem with new remodels: in ten years, all of the new flooring, fixtures, and appliances will be scoffed at, like skinny ties and bell- bottomed jeans. They will then be “dated”, like me, you, and everything else.
Speaking of old-fashioned ideas, I’m a pretty big proponent of free speech. There’s a reason that this Constitutional right earned the number one spot in the Bill of Rights: because the truth needs to be heard even when it is unpleasant.
However, our right of free speech is not absolute. For example, one cannot shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater when there is no danger: the panic that is induced could hurt or kill innocent people. Shouting “Fire!” in that instance is a lie, which we are all entitled to use when it serves us, but it is injurious to bystanders.
This distinction came into play recently when Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist/podcaster/disseminator of misinformation, was tried and convicted for broadcasting hurtful lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre some years back. Mr. Jones repeatedly broadcast lies that the event never happened, was staged to promote an anti-gun agenda, and that the parents of some of the slain children were grandstanding to make money off of the “fake” tragedy. As it turned out in Jones’ trial, he knew that the claims that he was making were false and that the massacre “was 100 percent real”.
The grief of the parents of the slain children was compounded by Mr. Jones’ rhetoric and some of the parents received death threats from Jones’ followers. Damage was indeed done to parents’ reputations by the lies broadcast through Jones’ InfoWars organization. He was found guilty and fined a total of around $50 million for his hateful, pain-inflicting abuse of free speech.
One wonders how history will treat the spectacular “Stop The Steal” grift.
In that instance, which is ongoing, free speech (in this case, an outright lie) is being used to generate donations to the Trump organization to fight fraudulent voting in 2020 that was never proven to have happened. It has been estimated that ex-President Trump’s political action committees have received at least $250 million in donations from this scam. This enables the disgraced, ex-President to be a powerful kingmaker in current G.O.P. politics.
As P.T. Barnum used to say, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” This axiom is the basis for salesmanship, which uses lies, exaggerations, and misdirection to convince a customer that they need to purchase something that they don’t need for more than it is worth. Society and the law feel that those “suckers” deserve their fate, similar to the idiots who purchase the “miracle healing cloths” from televangelist Peter Popoff.
“Caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware.”
There’s only one problem with the “Stop the Steal” scam: the money donated by the “suckers” harms Republican candidates that have not bought into the Big Lie, i.e. that Trump legitimately won the 2020 Presidential election. These honest politicians (I know, that’s an oxymoron!) are put at a disadvantage in G.O.P. primaries where Trump-supported candidates receive some of the spoils of the “Stop The Steal” grift.
Is this a crime or just clever salesmanship by the Trump team?
If it is the latter, we may have to get used to saying “Senator” Herschel Walker and “Senator” Mehmet Oz.
Update: Donald Trump has now initiated two frivolous lawsuits against CNN and Hillary Clinton and the supposed self-made billionaire is urging followers to donate money to support the litigation. Question: if these lawsuits are so important to Mr. Trump, why is he not using his own money to fund these cases? One can say a lot of negative things about the ex-Prez, but the guy certainly knows how to squeeze money out of suckers.
One of the richest guys in the world, Elon Musk, who made his billions the old-fashioned way (inventing revolutionary products), took a well-deserved shot at President Joe Biden this week. It seems that the Administration’s undies are ruffled over the fact that woman professional basketball star Britney Griner has been convicted of bringing marijuana into Russia, which is a felony offense in that country. She’s been sentenced to 9 year in jail. Joe’s people are working hard to secure her release via a prisoner swap or diplomatic giveaway.
There’s only one problem with that, as Elon Musk pointed out: hundreds of thousands of people are in U.S. jails and prisons for doing the same thing (marijuana possession) in our country, and Joe Biden isn’t lifting a finger to gain their release. What is so special about Britney Griner that would justify trading an imprisoned Russian spy for her release?
Answer: she’s Black and she’s a celebrity athlete.
Well, it’s the early afternoon now, usually the time when Charlie and I pour ourselves an adult beverage and play some cards together.
There’s only one problem, though: she keeps kicking my ass!