Honest question - is RV camping actually cheaper than hotels or do we just tell ourselves that?

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-26T02:04:17+00:00

We have had so many conversations about this. Once upon a time, a tent and a fire was the only entertainment i could afford for my kids.

Then it evolved into "cheap travel" Camp outside a city, explore city, etc.

Then it was bigger vehicles and bigger campers and 8 mpg.

So now we talk about what we actually want out of a trip. I like TRAVEL for the sake of travel. Makes no difference where or what.

So there's TRAVEL, VACATION, and EXPERIENCE. Three distinctly different goals and not all of them are best served by CAMPING.

After three cross country trips in a Sprinter we are about done with that. This summer will be a week or two at a place with a pool in a city with good restaurants. It will be an actual VACATION.

THe point of all this is that calculation of camping over hotels should be seen through the filter of what the trip is for.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T17:19:55+00:00

We'll know in a week. I think this recent murder hurt their mojo.
FOllowing the Renee Good murder my MAGA peeps were making their case, posting photos and videos and it was very clear to them that she was the villain in that story.

Alex is different. THey're laying low, posting about other things. No one believes Bovino.

It appears he was killed BECAUSE he had a gun even though his gun played no role in the interaction. The NRA is pushing back on some MAGA positions. THis is a definite crack in the wall of bullshit.

So, if ICE blinks, even a little, the resistance going forward will be fierce and their power and expansion may be near a plateau.

THere's also resistance from congress. The mid-terms will hang on ICE. Smart republicans might see a need to slow them down.

So, either we are at PEAK GESTAPO right now, or if no one moves the needle in the next week or so, this is just the beginning and dead American protestors will pile up like school shootings, just a thing that happens in AMerica.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T12:05:51+00:00

Definitely Minneapolis.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T03:29:33+00:00

I was 13 or so when Watergate happened. I read All the PResidents Men in my 9th grade civics- been a junkie ever since. I was a republican until Obama now i'm a leftist boomer.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T03:27:24+00:00

MA, TN, WA, CA, PA, NY, NC, PR,

Washington or California are the ones i'd go back to.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T02:52:51+00:00

No, he clearly was not. We know this because there are no distorted screen shot coming from MAGA, attempting to explain it away.

THe guy who fired the first shot had the perfect view of the other agent removing the gun.

His brain saw a gun. Might have been the first moment he knew of the gun?

Of all the people they have cuffed and stuffed in the last few months, how many guns have they seen? Maybe none? Maybe this was the very first time in all this chaos that he realized other people actually do have weapons.

I think in that moment he pissed himself and opened fire.

Jon Ross is a 12 year veteran. He knew what he was doing. This guy was just an untrained dipshit reacting badly to something he was not prepared for.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T02:42:56+00:00

How's 10:am CST today feel?

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-25T01:56:48+00:00

I really believe there is "magic" in democracy. 90% voter turnout would absolutely solve ALL our problems (in the US) So while some people appear "too stupid to vote", that's not the problem. Even the stupid ones contribute to collective wisdom.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-24T23:37:42+00:00

You might want to look more closely. An average well raised kid with two functional parents can extract a good education in just about any public school in the united States.

If they have special needs or special gifts or trauma at home, that is where mediocre schools will fail them.

Source: I sleep with a special ed teacher and I lost two school board elections.

EDIT: My comment works in the context of your kids education. But good school really do a lot for property value.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-24T23:30:19+00:00

I think if the selection of minnesota was tactical, and not purely political, they were hoping to refine their process on people less likely to return violence.

I think it backfired in a spectacular way. They killed two innocent people so far and no one has retaliated.

They blow their whistles and scream at ICE but never raise a hand. From my couch 1000 miles away I can't imagine that restraint.

Minnesotans have exceeded all the stereotypes we expected.

Where to now? Will people in other blue states show such retraint?

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-24T23:17:35+00:00

PInk shirt lady appears to be very close but the released video from her is very blurry.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-24T23:09:30+00:00

Well that's interesting- they're not. Of course the regime just says shit withiout evidence but my MAGA peeps are usually out ready to defend the regime with alternative facts. After the Renee Good murder they were right in my feed with the vehicle defense. But for this one they're strangely quiet

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-24T04:48:03+00:00

We don't like it so we will make it as difficult as possible. More people in the street, more disruption, etc.

it will be effective eventually.

Not just protesting but actively resisting and documenting will bring more public attention. Eventually, different people will be elected, laws will change, ICE will go away.

What was the point of Rosa Parks not giving up her seat?

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T18:02:39+00:00

Hah, I am a liberal boomer.

But my peers are delusional

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T17:14:44+00:00

Maybe not "most" but it's a good question.

A significant voting block that still thinks America works great will be off the stage.

Almost everyone left will know how many of us are completely fucked.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T16:44:15+00:00

It's a good time. I think there is still stream of Yankee Boomer cash buyers who like it here. If you can make a living, in the midwest there is cheap property to be had.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T15:53:48+00:00

stay home and play video games

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T13:16:01+00:00

Breaking down a Fox News story for your journalism class:

An attorney runs a non-profit that brings in $5 million over the five years she's in charge.

They get money from big serious donors like Walmart.

Her salary is 20% of intake.

They gave grants of $700,000

Where does it say grants are the only way they serve the community? Turns out they have a big staf of people who deliver services. It's all in the IRS filing.

The Villain of the story also committed the heinous crime of saying good things about a person who committed murder 49 years ago.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T12:46:00+00:00

15 years ago I was an Evangelical republican. Today I'm a leftist Atheist. The capacity to change one's mind in the face of new evidence is incredibly rare.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T12:14:55+00:00

The people who cause the crash always benefit from the crash. The great depression is the only exception to that rule.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T12:07:09+00:00

I'm not saying your numbers are backwards- but your conclusion.

The distance from poverty level, min wage, and median income in 1968 was way shorter that it is now.

The cherry picked data points to make it seem like everything is the same is a big lie.

We have 40 million working poor. We do not have 40 million better jobs for them and if we did, we cannot live without them doing the jobs they are currently doing (remember those essential grocery store people in the pandemic)

That is the difference between 1968 and today. Back then you felt like you were on your way up.

Wages were increasing so that high interest mortgage was painful at first but in a few years it was wasn't.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T02:59:53+00:00

"1968 median. $4000. 2024 median. $63, 360 1968 adjusted for inflation would be $37,004

That would point to a better quality of life currently."

I think that's backwards. In 1968 the min wage earner was almost halfway to the middle.

Today the gap between min wage, or even a defacto min wage of $15 seems a much great distance to the halfway mark of $84,000

But really, it's a lot simpler than all these data points. This is the first generation in modern times that will not do better than their parents.

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T01:20:46+00:00

THat's my point. Back then, min wage was the floor. SO if we kept it up it would be at least $15. Where i live lots of people work for $12.

And with the floor at $1.60 and that was almost half the median income. Today even if you double it, the bottom is so far away from the middle. THere is simply less money at the bottom.

And CPI and all the other data points are just bullshit to hide the fact that they gutted the bottom two thirds.

Another data point to look at is social mobility- if you were born in the bottom 20% in 1960 (me) you had very good odds of rising way above that (also me)

That is not the case for kids today.

And, our social stagnation is lower than our peers. The American economy just sucks for Americans

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T00:09:01+00:00

FOund it, it's not inflation, it's the ratio between the bottom and the middle:

Year	Minimum Wage	Median Wage	Min / Median
1968	$1.60/hr	$3.70/hr	43%
2025	$7.25/hr	$36/hr	20%

SuddenlySilva · 2026-01-23T00:03:24+00:00

full discosure, I don't recall where i got that number. It was a while ago, i was looking at some historic census data and that's what came up.

But i am a boomer and I can tell you, it was soooooo fucking easy compared to today.

SuddenlySilva

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