Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You are here: Home / Your typical city involved in a typical daydream

Your typical city involved in a typical daydream

by | 136 Comments

This post is in: ,

Principled Burkean moderates (via):

Tractor-trailer drivers will intentionally clog the inner loop of the Washington, D.C., beltway beginning on the morning of Oct. 11, according to a coordinator of the upcoming “Truckers Ride for the Constitution” rally.

[….]

“We are not going to ask for impeachment,” Conlon said. “We are coming whether they like it or not. We’re not asking for impeachment, we’re asking for the arrest of everyone in government who has violated their oath of office.”

But remember that time a DailyKos commenter said Bush was a fascist? Pretty much the same as this.

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  2. 2.

    taylormattd

    remember that time a DailyKos commenter said Bush was a fascist?

    Amusingly, these days a not-insubstantial number of Daily Kos commenters spend their time calling Obama a fascist.

  3. 3.

    KG

    I’ve got a couple of questions for these folks:

    Question 1: who, specifically, has violated their oath of office?
    Question 2: how did those people violate their oath of office? Please provide specific examples.
    Question 3: what charges will follow the proposed arrests?
    Question 4: under what legal authority will those charges be brought?
    Question 5: When and where (and with what funding) will trials follow the proposed arrests?
    Question 6 (extra credit): please cite the Constitutional Provision that allows for the proposed arrests.

  4. 4.

    Roger Moore

    We’re not asking for impeachment, we’re asking for the arrest of everyone in government who has violated their oath of office.

    Who would that be? Does this jackass even know what the oath of office says, much less what the Constitution says? That said, I’ll believe there are a bunch of truckers who are going to shut down the Beltway and arrest government officials after it happens, not when some loudmouth starts yapping.

  5. 5.

    gnomedad

    Tractor-trailer drivers Constitutional scholars will intentionally clog the inner loop of the Washington, D.C., beltway … “we’re asking for the arrest of everyone in government who has violated their oath of office.”

    Fixed.

  6. 6.

    PaulW

    Andrew Sullivan is quickly losing his sh-t, in real time, to the increasing delusional status of the House GOP.

    I honestly don’t blame him.

  8. 8.

    srv

    While Obama is guilty of treason, it would be within his Constitutional powers to use the drones on truckers.

    Maybe they can turn the 395 tunnel into a Free Speech Zone.

  9. 9.

    PaulW

    here’s my problem: these truckers seem to think that clogging up the I-95 beltway between Richmond and Baltimore is an effective scare tactic.

    DC residents are gonna go “oh hey the bad traffic is back to normal” and YAWN.

  10. 10.

    Trinity

    I work in DC. This could and will never happen. You can’t stop beltway traffic…it stops you.

    Morans.

  11. 11.

    Another Holocene Human

    Two things: I suspect there’s more freight run on the CSX main line daily than the Beltway, which is a commuter highway. I learned to drive on that highway and don’t remember too many trucks.

    And the Beltway being locked up with traffic is a daily occurrence, so oo booga booga? I’m scared?

    Okay, three things: with the gubmint shut down, who are they really inconveniencing?

    ETA: @Trinity: Pizackly

  13. 13.

    Joey Maloney

    Anyone in D.C. interested in a pickup bed full of extra-large caltrops? I’ll make you a good price.

  14. 14.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    The TV show inspired by it will be called Bottom Gear.

    Straight from the deepest end of the IQ pool, stuck in first forever.

  16. 16.

    The Dangerman

    Sounds like a criminal conspiracy to me; you have the right to assembly if you aren’t harming others. You think they’d know that after Occupy; anyway, arrest them, charge them, and impound their trucks.

    ETA: Any chance the Hoverround Brigade will try a similar tactic?

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    @PaulW:

    I honestly don’t blame him.

    I do. It’s fellow travelers like Sullivan who have allowed the teabaggers to reach the degree of crazy they’ve achieved. The time to stop the monster is before you bring it to life, not after it’s gone on a rampage.

  18. 18.

    piratedan

    @PaulW: he was warned plenty of times as to what he was enabling and he simply refused to see the signs, nice to have him see reality but he still bears a certain amount of responsibility for enabling these psychopaths to be treated as a fair players in our political process.

  20. 20.

    UofAZGrad

    Please, please, please let these schmucks lay one hand on a congressperson. Finally start filling up federal prisons with dangerous lunatics instead of nonviolent drug offenders,

  21. 21.

    gnomedad

    @Trinity:

    I work in DC. This could and will never happen. You can’t stop beltway traffic…it stops you.

    In Soviet Russia … oh, wait.

  22. 22.

    shortstop

    @piratedan: Exactly. Plus, once these idiots take a five-minute break from gay-bashing and threatening Andy’s 401K, all will be forgiven. How many times have we been down this road? I haven’t read him for years because of it.

  23. 23.

    The Populist

    @KG: Apparently the dems are the only corrupt ones in congress according to this nutball. LOL.

  24. 24.

    WereBear

    Any Congresscritter screwing with the debt limit is not upholding the Oath of Office, IMHBNCO*:

    I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

    *In My Humble But Nonetheless Correct Opinion

  25. 25.

    Robert Sneddon

    Speaking of Fascism I was amused recently to see a closeup of the Lincoln Memorial and note the symbols the figure of your revered President rests his large countryman’s hands on…

  26. 26.

    lol

    The comments from supporters are pretty lulzy. Who knew conspiracy theorists tended to be truckers?

    This isn’t the first time this sort of protest has been imagined by the right and it’s likely going to be as unsuccessful as the previous efforts.

  27. 27.

    lol

    The comments from supporters are pretty lulzy. Who knew conspiracy theorists tended to be truckers?

    This isn’t the first time this sort of protest has been imagined by the right and it’s likely going to be as unsuccessful as the previous efforts.

  28. 28.

    Joey Maloney

    @UofAZGrad: Please, please, please let these schmucks lay one hand on a congressperson.

    Wanna take bets on the response time of those unpaid Capitol Police if they get a report of some trucker laying a beating on, say, Rep. Yoho?

  29. 29.

    Jon Marcus

    Oh, but the “update” is the best part:

    “News coverage of a trucker protest seeking to clog the roads in and around Washington, D.C., this weekend prompted a schism between the ride’s leaders

    …

    Conlon’s comments infuriated Peter Santilli, an online radio host who is not a trucker. Santilli is hosting a parallel rally in California and will not be joining the D.C. protest, but he’s acting as a spokesman for an umbrella of nationwide rallies called “Truckers Ride for the Constitution.”

    …

    Conlon snapped back at Santilli, who surprised him with an on-air radio call the trucker believed was a private conversation. Conlon said citizens do indeed have the authority to arrest public officials and that truckers can legally turn off their trucks on the road – if they’re complying with regulations requiring a 34-hour “restart” after truckers “run out of hours” they’re allowed to work.

    “You’re having your rally, I’m having mine,” Conlon told Santilli. “You might as well find a new place to meet. … I’m not going there to smile and blow my horn.”

    Pass the popcorn.

  30. 30.

    Cris (without an H)

    @KG:

    Question 1: who, specifically, has violated their oath of office?

    Democrats.

    Question 2: how did those people violate their oath of office? Please provide specific examples.

    By being Democrats, duh. Also too when they declared Marshal Law and made guns illegal.

    Question 3: what charges will follow the proposed arrests?

    Aggravated Governing While Black

    Question 4: under what legal authority will those charges be brought?

    Natural Law.

    Question 5: When and where (and with what funding) will trials follow the proposed arrests?

    They’re bringing their own grand jury! Presumably they can hold a trial in the container of a reefer truck.

    Question 6 (extra credit): please cite the Constitutional Provision that allows for the proposed arrests.

    I’m sorry, your transmission is breaking up.

  32. 32.

    celticdragonchick

    @Roger Moore:

    I do. It’s fellow travelers like Sullivan who have allowed the teabaggers to reach the degree of crazy they’ve achieved.

    Sullivan has been sounding the alarm about the crazies since at least 2006. I don’t think you can pin this on him.

  33. 33.

    beth

    From the article:

    Trucker-specific grievances behind the protest include Environmental Protection Agency fuel efficiency standards and the high cost of diesel fuel. State and local anti-idling laws as well as insurance companies purportedly requiring technological updates are among the irritations,

    And the federal government has shit all to do with any of this, outside of the EPA regulations. What a bunch of maroons.

  34. 34.

    Flukebucket

    It seems like only yesterday that it was an angry group of Easy Riders bound and determined to shut Washington down and eliminate all of the Muslims. I am so sick of this.

  35. 35.

    chopper

    Tractor-trailer drivers will intentionally clog the inner loop of the Washington, D.C., beltway beginning on the morning of Oct. 11

    who’ll notice the difference?

  38. 38.

    ranchandsyrup

    Maybe they’ll rent all of the segways for the mall tours and then shut down the mall. Except for the WWII memorial, of course. All pols that can run over 10 mph will be spared as they can escape.

  39. 39.

    scav

    Not knowing traffic in DC, I can only ponder that further inconveniencing people is the best of all possible way to earn friends, especially in a populace that already wants everything their way, immediately, with a smile and for free.

  41. 41.

    celticdragonchick

    @Flukebucket: 2 or 3 trucks stopping in traffic would be enough to snarl the beltway good. I wonder how many EMTs and other folks they are going to fuck with.

    I really hope the capital police, Virgina HP and Maryland state troopers arrest these bastards and impound the vehicles.

  43. 43.

    JR

    They do understand that National Airport is both inside the Beltway and completely Metro-accessible, right? And that there are trains running regularly out of Union Station? And that lots of roads out of the city don’t actually hit the Beltway?

    No? Oh, well, I’m sure the plan is still brilliant, and we shouldn’t think for a second that pissed-off DC drivers will yank them from their cabs and beat the ever-loving crap out of them on the roadside.

  44. 44.

    Elizabelle

    Jeebus.

    It’s not enough that truckers get parodied as serial killers, low IQ types with no other job prospects, red state yahoos, lot lizard patrons, pee bottle dispersers ….

    Some of the looniest have to go and try this.

    This is really sad. I know a few truckers, and they are well-disciplined small businesspeople. Several are politically liberal, even.

    This idea is stupidity on 18 wheels.

  45. 45.

    nemesis

    Isnt this the revised plan? The first plan was ditched, I mean, altered. Im feeling a strong derp vibe with this plan, so expect another revision before the due date.
    Is fox covering this yet? If so, it could become a real watchable clusterfuck.

  46. 46.

    scav

    Bummer of an instant nickname, of course. How the hell is Truck Nuts already here? I thought we specialized in low-hanging fruit.

  47. 47.

    Cris (without an H)

    @lol: Who knew conspiracy theorists tended to be truckers?

    The first time I met a real live person in the wild telling me all about how the Freemasons run the world was when I was hitchhiking in Oklahoma and got a ride in a tractor trailer. It would be irresponsible to make any broad sweeping statements, but long-haul driving is a very isolating profession, requiring you to spend long stretches of time with no company but your own thoughts and whatever you can pick up on the radio. It also puts you in something of a secret society, or at least a parallel subculture; the highways and truck stops place you in a network outside of what most people experience in the towns and cities. Add to that a fairly well-earned sense of privilege — as a trucker, you are the wheels that keep the consumer economy rolling, and for practical purposes the highways belong to you — and it makes for fertile ground for Glenn Beckian fantasies to thrive.

  48. 48.

    Suffern ACE

    @lol: The point isn’t really to succeed in arresting Nancy Pelosi. What they are looking for are the names of the people who are crazy enough to forego their income (I assume they aren’t being paid to cart empty trucks) to do this.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    @beth:

    Trucker-specific grievances behind the protest include Environmental Protection Agency fuel efficiency standards and the high cost of diesel fuel.

    Yeah, because the answer is obviously for the government to magically reduce prices set by the Free Market, rather than to push standards that will result in lower consumption. Cause and effect: how the fuck does it work?

  51. 51.

    Marc

    @JR: And that no member of Congress actually lives outside or uses the Beltway when they’re in session?

    But this is a great way to piss off all the locals who haven’t been furloughed yet.

    Assholes.

  52. 52.

    elmo

    What I don’t understand is what relationship “clogging the Beltway” has with “arresting Congressmen.” I know it’s common to speak of “the Beltway” as being part of DC, but in reality it’s a great big loop several miles outside of downtown.

    Do these guys think the Beltway goes to Capitol Hill?

  53. 53.

    Redshirt

    I wasn’t joking about the Oathkeepers:

    Oath Keepers is instructing its 30,000 members nation-wide to form up special teams and sub-teams in each Oath Keepers chapter, at the town and county level, modeled loosely on the Special Forces “A Team” (Operational Detachment A ) model, and for a similar purpose: to be both a potential operational unit for community security and support during crisis, but also, as mission #1, to serve as training and leadership cadre, to assist in organizing neighborhood watches, organizing veterans halls to provide community civil defense, forming County Sheriff Posses, strengthening existing CERT, volunteer fire, search-and-rescue, reserve deputy systems, etc., and eventually to assist in forming and training town and county militias (established by official act of town and county elected representatives). We want our chapters to organize themselves as a working model that we can then take to other veterans organizations, such as the VFW, American Legion, Marine Corps League, etc. in each town and help them establish such teams within their already existing veterans halls. And likewise, to serve as a model and training cadre to help churches, neighborhood watches, and any other civic organization organize.

    We are basing this on the Special Forces model, which has a twelve man “A team” of specially trained soldiers who are inserted into a community to train and lead that community in resistance to oppressive regimes (hence their motto: “De Oppresso Liber). SF’s primary mission is to teach, organize, and lead, rather than to directly fight. They can fight, of course, but they are most dangerous as a force-multiplier by helping an entire community to fight. We will do the same – be force multipliers to help prepare communities so they can preserve civilization by providing their own security, disaster relief, infrastructure preservation, emergency communications, strategic food reserve, and medical care.

    In an SF team, there are:

    Two communications experts.

    Two Medics.

    Two Combat Engineers (who can do more than demolitions. They can also build bridges, dig wells, install water-treatment, irrigation systems, etc. ).

    Two weapons experts.

    An Operations NCO.

    An Assistant Operations NCO who also does intelligence.

    A commanding officer, and his assistant commanding officer.

    Each SF soldier is first trained to be light infantry. They all go through Army Basic Training, Advanced Individual Training (AIT)(usually at the Infantry School at Ft. Benning), Airborne School, and then the SF Selection course, where they learn land navigation (including a difficult timed night land-nav course), wilderness survival (including a graded field “survival” exercise), and patrolling (including reconnaissance, ambushes, raids, reacting to ambush, movement to contact, etc), along with a timed ruck march, obstacle course, rappelling out of helicopters, and hand-to-hand. And then they learn their specialty of one of the above – medic, commo, engineer, weapons, etc. Then they put it all together in a field training final phase where they are dropped into the fictitious country of “Pineland” (in the mountains and forests of North Carolina) and have to teach and lead the indigenous people (played by other recruits waiting to enter the training) in irregular warfare against the enemy.

    Then, once they graduate and make it to Group, they all cross train, each specialized team of two training the others so they are all pretty good at all tasks, but experts within their chosen specialty. They bring each-other up to a high standard of capability. And by having two of each specialty, they have redundancy (two is one, and one is none) and the ability to split into two teams of six if needed. They can function as a very capable fighting squad if they need to, but their primary mission is to train and lead others in irregular warfare.

    Oath Keepers is using that successful model and adapting it to our mission, to form Oath Keepers “Civilization Preservation Teams” (we have already received critical input from some of our Special Forces members, and are actively seeking more input from others within the Special Forces community)

    The following is a preliminary draft of what we intend to do, to be further modified and improved with our members’ continued input. This is not written in stone – it is just a start. All who read this, please help us make it better by leaving in the comments your suggestions for improvement. What are we missing? What needs to be changed? How can we make it better?

    http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2013/10/01/oath-keepers-is-going-operational-by-forming-special-civilization-preservation-teams/

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @celticdragonchick:

    I really hope the capital police, Virgina HP and Maryland state troopers arrest these bastards and impound the vehicles.

    LOL. I hope so too. And these are going to be owner-operators. Someone trying this with a truck company’s vehicle would get shitcanned.

    @beth:

    The Department of Transportation has a lot of control over trucking industry practices. Hours of service, safety regulations.

  56. 56.

    MattF

    I’d find it more amusing if I didn’t drive on the inner loop of the Beltway every morning to get to work. Hmm.

  57. 57.

    Eric U.

    they probably would get stuck near Rockville Md. or Richmond anyway. How many truckers are actually going to spend $500 to go to a protest?

  58. 58.

    PaulW

    @celticdragonchick:

    Sullivan soured on the rah-rah war cheerism by the time of 2005-06 when it became clear Cheney lied us into war. By 2009 he’s made many “causes for concern” about the wingnut of the GOP, and trying to plead for more saner heads to prevail. By now, though, he’s losing his shit. Boehner is now a complete joke to Sully and the House GOP certifiable freaks.

    Sure, Sullivan will play the “only sane conservative” card to humor himself, but for the last 4 years he has not been the GOP’s biggest fan.

  60. 60.

    PaulW

    @Roger Moore:

    Yeah, because the answer is obviously for the government to magically reduce prices set by the Free Market, rather than to push standards that will result in lower consumption. Cause and effect: how the fuck does it work?

    Like magnets.

    Also, these jokers don’t drive in Europe, where the cost of gas/diesel is what, $400 euro a litre?

  61. 61.

    Suffern ACE

    @Redshirt: I wouldn’t either. The right has access to a lot of tools that could easily be turned into nasty things and there aren’t equivalents on the left.

  62. 62.

    scav

    @schrodinger’s cat: So, practically speaking, how much is that an option for everyone? With planning, odd things can happen such as traffic during the LA olympics. Could that mean, depending on how many actually show up, they’ll spend a day parading around obstructing other business deliveries and Emergency vehicles? There’s a motorized symbol for the shutdown! Christ do truckers have a lot of wheels to fall off.

  65. 65.

    piratedan

    @Redshirt: It sure looks like we have all the hallmarks of an attempted coup in progress don’t it? We have the Koch’s and Meese pimping the TeaPartiers and their nihilistic tendencies into provoking a Constitutional crisis, the MSM still operating in cocktail party mode, a bunch of furloughed workers sitting at home so you have skeleton crews manning the stations and a bunch of organized rabid Conservative whackjobs (many with military backgrounds) kicking up their readiness levels and a bunch of “independent truckers” threatening to close down access to the seat of government and institute lynch mob tactics against lawmakers they don’t care for. Who knows, maybe it can happen here?

    So supposing this isn’t just idle speculation and these guys are certifiably trying to implement regime change…. what happens next?

  67. 67.

    Mr. Longform

    I will join them in my 1996 Saturn and leak oil all over the Beltway! Suck on that, libtards! Can someone send me gas money?

  68. 68.

    PaulW

    the only good thing about a potential far right wingnut coup attempt is that these jokers haven’t proven competent enough to tie their own shoelaces.

    Yes, they are scary in that they will have access to firearms and low-level ordnance via their mercenary corporations like Xe/Blackwater, but I figure by the time they do get organized the A-10s will fly over with their gatling uberguns and make short work of them all.

  69. 69.

    PaulW

    @Mr. Longform:

    I will join them in my 1996 Saturn and leak oil all over the Beltway! Suck on that, libtards! Can someone send me gas money?

    can’t you file a government grant for that?

  70. 70.

    rk

    We are not going to ask for impeachment,” Conlon said. “We are coming whether they like it or not. We’re not asking for impeachment, we’re asking for the arrest of everyone in government who has violated their oath of office.

    Is that going to be followed by a speedy trial and execution or are they going to simply line up everyone against a wall and shoot.

  71. 71.

    Scott S.

    I’ve come to believe that the way to take care of the problem of the teabaggers is to start treating them like the Klan or Westboro Baptist. You can’t stop them from running their tiny protests, but you can meet them with gigantic counter-rallies, and you can ridicule them loud and long. They won’t go away until they get met with clowns laughing at them. (or alternately, until they blow up another federal building and disappear into the cracks again.)

  72. 72.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Cris (without an H):

    It also puts you in something of a secret society, or at least a parallel subculture; the highways and truck stops place you in a network outside of what most people experience in the towns and cities.

    A friend of mine who’s a university professor — and focuses on outsider artistic subcultures — is actually married to a long-haul driver, and has done a bunch of rides. You speak the truth.

  74. 74.

    virginia

    These dingalings seem to think that Congressfolk are to be found on the damn Beltway? Doing what exactly? Driving back and forth to work? LOL! Beltway is strictly for the proles!

    And, hey, great guerilla move, to let the authorities know when you are coming and why and how, etc.

    In other idiocies, Congressman Sean Duffy’s mini interview with Andrea Mitchell, who appears to have awakened from her vast slumbers, just now was something not to be believed. A rambling, incoherent, juvenile nyah nyah rant followed by an idiotically self-satisfied little smile at the end. The poor fellow seemed to think he had somehow nailed something.

    The mood of this morning seems to be devolving at turbo speed into something different. Let’s hope President Obama hits it out of the ballpark at two pm.

  75. 75.

    Sinnach

    Anyone else watching Andrea Mitchell? She just had on Pat Toomey (R-) who railed against Obama for not negotiating during these “opportunities” (the shutdown and debt-ceiling). After which she made no attempt to rebut such an outrageous claim but instead cut to break.

    I really shouldn’t be watching msm like her or Todd. It’s literally unhealthy.

  77. 77.

    jonas

    @PaulW: I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was Michelle Bachmann stating in an interview that she’s really looking forward to all this chaos because it means Jesus is coming soon.

    The GOP isn’t a political party, it’s an apocalyptic death cult.

  78. 78.

    Suffern ACE

    @Sinnach: You know, if they were interested in negotiating, they could, you know, pass a budget and ask Nancy and Harry what they could do to get some support for it. But no, they’d rather send their truckers to arrest Nancy rather than talk to her.

  79. 79.

    shelly

    And they’ll get the drop on all those treasonous politicians by telling everybody ALL THEIR PLANS IN ADVANCE, in incredible detail.
    A can’t fail plan, guys.

  81. 81.

    Corner Stone

    @Sinnach: I was watching “at it”, with the sound off because what else is Toomey going to say? I also loved the “opportunities” part.
    Waiting to hear what President Obama has to say shortly.

  82. 82.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Jon Marcus: YOU CAN STOP TRUCKS IN ROAD BLOCK TRAFFIC IF YOU HIT HOS? WHERE SIGN UP FOR NOOZELETTER?

    Seriously, this is fascinating. Do go on, Mr Conlon.

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    WaPost:

    now Conlon is saying this was a hoax.

    “The comments to U.S. News were designed to do one thing and one thing only: stir the feather of the mainstream media,” said Conlon, a father of three. “Nothing gets the attention of the mainstream media like some sort of disastrous threat. I knew it was going to ruffle some feathers.”

    So while thousands of truckers may indeed come to Washington on Friday and many of them may travel along the inner loop of the Beltway, honking their horns, they won’t intentionally shut down traffic, he said.

  85. 85.

    Cris (without an H)

    @Redshirt: I wasn’t joking about the Oathkeepers

    Those guys had a float in my town’s Fair Parade this year, right behind the John Birch Society float. I said out loud, “The OathKeepers are affiliated with the Birchers?” and the guy handing out brochures said something like “Yeah, they’re our friends.”

    I had heard their name before, but until the parade I never really looked into them. If I didn’t assume they were mostly bluster and paranoia, I would consider them pretty frightening. Developing a shadow network of active military and police willing to violate COC? This is the stuff real-life coup d’etat are made of.

  87. 87.

    Anoniminous

    For real and actual Truck Nutz.

    Whocouldahnode?

    @Elizabelle:

    Maybe a lawyer got his ear and told him the penalties under the Homeland Security Act for this kinda of thing?

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    OMG, I just noticed Obama is expected to take questions at this event.
    This should be, ALL CAPS, absolutely freakin awesome!!

    CAPSLOCK JESUS come and take me naow!

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @scav:

    With planning, odd things can happen such as traffic during the LA olympics.

    Or more recently during Carmageddon; people were warned that traffic was likely to be terrible everywhere and to stay home unless they had a good reason. The result was that traffic was unusually light and the people who needed to go places got there faster than usual.

  91. 91.

    Another Holocene Human

    Fun facts: empty tractor trailers are more likely to knifejack because they lack traction; and on normal days most truckers would do anything to avoid attention from state troopers.

    Are they liveblogging their incredible journey? I want the helicam footage. It’ll be like the end of BLUES BROTHERS. Too delicious.

  92. 92.

    lol

    @Redshirt:

    Gleen Greenwald says these are good guys who should be taken seriously when they criticize the President but I suppose you Obots will start smearing them by citing quotes or something.

  96. 96.

    Roger Moore

    @Suffern ACE:

    You know, if they were interested in negotiating, they could, you know, pass a budget and ask Nancy and Harry what they could do to get some support for it.

    They’ve already passed a budget, but then refused to appoint anyone to the conference committee that’s supposed to negotiate the differences between the House and Senate versions. Nobody should lose sight of this basic point: the Republicans refused to participate in the normal negotiation process on the regular schedule. Anyone who fails to point this out when the Republicans talk about negotiations is buying their talking points.

  99. 99.

    Gex

    @PaulW: Man, it was all I could do to not reach through the nets and throttle the guy.

    His whiny post about how he needs the government to help make health care affordable to him? [Throttle] Should have thought about that when you were inviting Betsy McCaughey in to brainwash Americans into thinking health care reform would be the worst.

    His post about how there might, just might, be a racist element to the Tea Party opposition? [Throttle] Well who is it who backed the Bell Curve again and refused to acknowledge racism in the process until now?

    God, I hate that Tory with a fiery passion. If for whatever reason the ACA goes up in smoke, I’ll at least be glad that he will know that he is being screwed as a result and that he won’t just be happy that the poor others are the ones being Burkean screwed.

  101. 101.

    Hungry Joe

    @Redshirt: All this Oathkeepers/truckers/Wolverines stuff is, in a word, hilarious. It’s nothing more than a scattered gaggle of frustrated low-info doofuses playing cowboys & injuns, or Believers and Heretics, or whatever. They’re having the time of their lives revving each other up on the ‘net, field-stripping their big-boy toys twice a week (stinking up the double-wide with the oil), and generally strutting around and acting all indignant. Probably the most fun they’ve ever had. I’m not saying that no one should keep an eye on them, but it’s pretty hard to do with a straight face.

  102. 102.

    drkrick

    @shortstop:

    Right, and didn’t about 20 easy riders show up for that? They’ll be lucky to get half that here.

    It was a pretty good match for the 5 people that showed up for the “Million Muslim March” they were supposed to be counterprotesting.

  103. 103.

    burnspbesq

    It’s hard to imagine the Maryland or Virginia state police putting up with this shit for more than about 30 seconds.

  104. 104.

    celticdragonchick

    @Gex:

    Your post says more about you then it does about Sullivan…who as far as I can tell, has never done anything to you (or anybody else), has never held an elected office and merely writes opinions about which he has sometimes had to backtrack and apologize for.

    For that matter, I have had to back down on things I have said. I imagine you have as well. I have disagreed with a number of things he has said, but I have read nothing at all that makes him into the monster you seem to hold in you imagination.

    There are people who may well deserve your hatred. Hating Sullivan simply makes no sense, is a waste of energy and accomplishes nothing at all.

  105. 105.

    boatboy_srq

    @beth:

    State and local anti-idling laws

    Yeah, that’s a reason for being agin’ the federal government. You’d think all this [gasp] Federalism that’s been all over the airwaves the last three decades would have had some positive effect.

    These are the blue-collar equivalents to the volk who hate property taxes so much they migrate en masse to their own private enclaves – and pay more in HOAs than they do in real estate assessments.

  106. 106.

    Another Holocene Human

    @celticdragonchick:

    True. Deadheading sucks, and especially in windy conditions.

    Oh, fuck yeah. I fucking hate it when you have office people who laugh when you talk about the vehicle being a sail that skates all over the road. “It’s not gale force winds sustained at 30mph, what’s the problem?”

  108. 108.

    drkrick

    Reminds me of February 1979. A bunch of farmers showed up in DC with their tractors planning to to clog traffic in protest of fuel prices and maybe some other stuff. They were smarter than these guys in that they understood they needed to actually be in town to affect any of the people they were mad at.

    So while they were here and before the protest actions started, a predicted 2 inch snowfall turned into a 20 inch event that would have had the city tied up for several days longer if there hadn’t been hundred of guys with tractors around who promptly pitched in to clear streets and get stuck municipal vehicles out of snowbanks. I’m not sure they got any satisfaction on their grievances, but they were sure handy to have around that week.

  109. 109.

    Another Holocene Human

    @celticdragonchick: I don’t hate Sullivan, I despise him.

    But I guess it is a good education in Toryism: one day he’s trolling man2man poz barebacking forums and blogging about how awesome overdosing on testosterone makes him feel and the next day he’s doing a photospread with his Kodak family selling his new “mature” “conservative” image and starting sentences with “as a husband” or “as a father” with a completely straight face. And the worst of it is that he gets away with it while a prole like Krystal Ball has to drag around the baggage of spousal nude pix for the rest of her life.

    Fuck Sullivan.

    ps: if you’re not clear on why HIV+ barebacking is one of the most irresponsible sexual practices imaginable, I suggest you do a little public health googling. I’ll wait.

  110. 110.

    Chris

    @Cris (without an H):

    I always thought being unionized (aren’t the Teamsters these guys’ people?) would keep the Glenn Beck instincts in check. Not necessarily squash the loony/conspiracy nut thing, but at least channel it in a different direction. Guess not.

  111. 111.

    celticdragonchick

    @Another Holocene Human:

    But I guess it is a good education in Toryism: one day he’s trolling man2man poz barebacking forums and blogging about how awesome overdosing on testosterone makes him feel and the next day he’s doing a photospread with his Kodak family selling his new “mature” “conservative” image and starting sentences with “as a husband” or “as a father” with a completely straight face. And the worst of it is that he gets away with it while a prole like Krystal Ball has to drag around the baggage of spousal nude pix for the rest of her life.

    Why would this possibly have anything to do with you? I really don’t get it.

    ps: if you’re not clear on why HIV+ barebacking is one of the most irresponsible sexual practices imaginable, I suggest you do a little public health googling. I’ll wait.

    Free climbing Half Dome looks pretty irresponsible too. Not really my business, though. I still don’t get this.

  112. 112.

    Cris (without an H)

    @Hungry Joe: It’s nothing more than a scattered gaggle of frustrated low-info doofuses playing cowboys & injuns, or Believers and Heretics, or whatever.

    The one thing that sets the Oath Keepers apart from the usual Militia / Patriot / White Separatist yahoos is that the organization specifically targets active duty (and retired) military and police. You’re undoubtedly right that their sound and fury signifies nothing, but that one facet does make them slightly more concerning.

  113. 113.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chris:

    (aren’t the Teamsters these guys’ people?)

    As someone said above, these guys are probably owner/operators (ie contractors who own their own trucks), so they wouldn’t be part of a union.

    Teamsters get made fun of in Hollywood a lot, but one of G’s film school professors pointed out that the Teamsters are required to get the entire shoot set up before everyone else arrives at 6:00 am and take it all down after everyone leaves at 10:00 pm or later, so they’ve earned the right to stand around scratching their balls the rest of the day.

  114. 114.

    Chris

    @Hungry Joe:

    All this Oathkeepers/truckers/Wolverines stuff is, in a word, hilarious. It’s nothing more than a scattered gaggle of frustrated low-info doofuses playing cowboys & injuns, or Believers and Heretics, or whatever. They’re having the time of their lives revving each other up on the ‘net, field-stripping their big-boy toys twice a week (stinking up the double-wide with the oil), and generally strutting around and acting all indignant. Probably the most fun they’ve ever had. I’m not saying that no one should keep an eye on them, but it’s pretty hard to do with a straight face.

    It’s also kind of hard to take these groups seriously when you figure that half of them are FBI informants and the other half are undercovers.

    Lone wolves are the ones who scare me. It’s a lot harder to identify them and isolate them from the sea of pissed off people who are just venting on the Internet but don’t plan to do anything about it. And that seems to be where most of our terrorist attacks come from nowadays. Organized, declared militia groups… I, like you, tend to just point and laugh, at least at the moment.

  115. 115.

    Gex

    @Elizabelle: So they are not only stupid, but they are cowards.

    They are lucky their stupidity caused them to announce their plans so they can afford to say “J/K!” instead of try to figure out how to afford an attorney.

  117. 117.

    El Cid

    The person who yells “CONSTUSHUN” loudest is automagically the supreme Constitutional expert.

  121. 121.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Gex: The scab-asses who cry about how they’d join if only they could strike are the first to cut and run when you want to pack a room or run an info picket or when you tell them, “Hey, that sounds like an important concern. Why don’t you write that up and take it to the manager on Monday?”

  122. 122.

    Hungry Joe

    @Chris: Lone wolves are scary, all right. They don’t even have their slightly-less-unhinged Wolverine brothers’ saving grace of being comical, and they can do some horrific damage — Timothy McVeigh, anyone? Still, they’re extremely rare and no threat to the republic.

  123. 123.

    Another Holocene Human

    @celticdragonchick: Mountain climbing doesn’t, typically, endanger others. (Though I suppose it could grieve your own family when you die, and cost some money in rescue teams to get your body.)

    But it’s not that detail per se, it’s the privilege and the hypocrisy. And the fact that people like you are always running behind him to defend him when he has done NOTHING to redeem himself, NOTHING to apologize, NOTHING to earn my respect since the 1990s.

  124. 124.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Dumb asses. October 11th is a Friday. All the Congresscritters will have left for their home districts by then.

  125. 125.

    Glocksman

    I’m surprised no one’s brought up this song yet.

    Well, we rolled up Interstate Forty-Four
    Like a rocket-sled on rails
    We tore up all of our swindle sheets
    And left ’em settin’ on the scales
    By the time we hit that “Chi-town”
    Them bears was a-gettin smart
    They brought up some reinforcements
    From the “Illinois” National Guard

    There’s armored cars and tanks and jeeps
    ‘n’ rigs of ev’ry size
    Yeah, them chicken coops was full of bears
    And choppers filled the skies
    Well, we shot the line, we went for broke
    With a thousand screamin’ trucks
    And eleven long-haired friends of Jesus
    In a chartreuse microbus

    As others have mentioned, any company drivers participating will find themselves without a job.
    As for the independents, most of them that I know only own the tractor and not the trailers they haul.

    The one that I do know that owns his own trailer is a farmer who uses the rig for his farm, and not as an owner/operator.

    I suspect that any independent who manages to get a Schneider or Bradley trailer impounded by the VA or MD State Police might find himself unable to land any jobs in the future.

  126. 126.

    Flukebucket

    @shortstop: I have always wondered how that Easy Rider turn out was. The last I saw there were about 800,000 heading in that direction but I never heard one more word about it on the day it was to go down.

  128. 128.

    Gex

    I’m just saying I have ZERO sympathy for the defender of Betsy McCaughey and the Bell Curve as he freaks out about the irrational hatred of health care reform by people who appear to be motivated by racism. The thing about my opinions, right or wrong, is they aren’t published in (even the liberal) New Republic and I am not a pundit who gets paid to disseminate my opinion in print or on television. There is additional responsibility that comes with his profession.

    He doesn’t like the GOP battling to the death over health care reform? He shouldn’t have tried to convince people that it makes things worse. He doesn’t like governance that appears to be motivated by racism? He shouldn’t have tried to convince people there is evidence blacks are inferior.

    Last time I saw him revisit it, he defended the Betsy McCaughey piece which is highly relevant to the issue the GOP are fighting to the death over. If he wants to get paid as a pundit and appear on television “informing” people about these things, he can fucking own it.

    If he had said anything other than “Waaaah, my COBRA is so expensive and I have HIV so I NEED affordable insurance” my attitude might be different. But, unlike his argument against health care reform which was a systemic critique his argument for the ACA was “it helps me.”

    So yeah, fuck that.

  131. 131.

    dogwood

    @Gex:
    @celticdragonchick:
    Here’s some high Broderism. You are both essentially right. Sullivan’s posts on his illnesses and race were perfect examples of his lack of self awareness. Meta-cognition isn’t his thing. He’s very willing to admit to mistakes, but he learns all the wrong lessons from the experience. Instead of realizing that he gets himself in trouble because he is rash and impulsive he simply over-corrects. Thank God he doesn’t drive. Thus, while he was wrong on Iraq and probably right on Syria you can’t really trust his opinions because they are always emotional in nature. As a political blogger, he is the most skilled technician in the business. But as a thinker, I don’t know if he is genuinely incapable of synthesizing information or seeing the connectivity in seemingly unconnected events, or he is simply a lazy thinker who is wasting his potential. What I can guarantee is that his concern about the teaparty is genuine, and his endorsement of Rand Paul for the Republican presidential nomination will also be genuine. That’s Sullivan- more to be pitied than censored.

  132. 132.

    Redshirt

    @Hungry Joe: It’s amusing, until there’s a real crisis in America, and lo! The Right Wing death squads are already armed and organized and prepped to go after all the Liberals.

    We’re just a few crisis away.

  133. 133.

    celticdragonchick

    @dogwood:

    I think you have just about wrapped that debate up and put a bow on it.

    But as a thinker, I don’t know if he is genuinely incapable of synthesizing information or seeing the connectivity in seemingly unconnected events,

    That is what always drives me nuts about him, especially his inability to recognize hate crimes as actual acts of terrorism that affect a community and not just gay rights victim pathology.

  134. 134.

    lou

    OK, I just heard secondhand that this slowdown is a bust — that apparently Obamacare is so popular among truckers that the reaction was…”dude, really?” Can anyone confirm this understanding, or was it a pipe dream or someone’s bad hearing?

  135. 135.

    rodnchance

    @PaulW: The troopers should have dozens of tow trucks both private and from the military, ready to activate and remove every single one of these yokels from the road. That ought to cost at the minimum a $1,000.00 to get each truck back from the impound lots, which will be conveniently located somewhere within a 100 mile radius.

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