Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

That pie keeps getting more and more forks, reducing anyone’s chance of even a Perot.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Cole is on a roll !

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The ‘People’s Convoy’ Truckers Are Throwing A Tantrum Rally

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The ‘People’s Convoy’ Truckers Are Throwing A Tantrum Rally

by | 97 Comments

This post is in: , ,

This morning:

This afternoon:

“Co-organizer” Brian Braze took last weekend off, went back to Ohio for a break — even he’s bored with the current situation. Since I seem to recall the owners of the Hagerstown campground need their site back soon anyway, here’s hoping Saturday’s ‘Unity Project’ anti-vaxxer hoedown will give everyone involved an excuse to declare victory and leave town before Monday’s rush hour!

Reader Interactions

97Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I can’t wait for this to become an annual tradition that no one remembers how it started.  Like Whacking Day.

  6. 6.

    Ken

    @Baud: The Gormenghast novels are full of that kind of thing. On the ninth day after the spring equinox, the earl has to go to a particular room and place a lit blue candle and a penny on the lintel, no one knows why.

    But it still makes more sense than driving in circles all day.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    I can’t wait for this to become an annual tradition that no one remembers how it started.

    As President, you’ll be expected to show up and give a speech every year. Not unlike the National Prayer Breakfast, or the Annual Turkey Pardoning.

  10. 10.

    TriassicSands

    Against my better judgment, I’m once again watching a few minutes of the Jackson hearings.

    I think she’s exhausted — understandably — but she doesn’t seem as sharp as she was in previous sessions. I feel really sorry for her — her composure is exceptional.

    Kennedy has been asking her about unenumerated rights (9th Amendment). I think there is a good response to his questions that she is missing. That may be a fault of the way nominees answer questions in these (phony) hearings. They say as little as possible.

    The Ninth Amendment says:

    The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

    Kennedy wants to know who gets to identify those rights. His position, though he hasn’t stated it outright, is that they should be identified by votes of the people. My response is that it is just as legitimate for the SCOTUS to identify unenumerated rights — for example, the right to privacy, which is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, but there is plenty of dancing around it. In the course of deciding cases before it, the SCOTUS should be able to identify how an unenumerated right, consistent with the Constitution, affects the case in question. That doesn’t strike me as anywhere near as activist as what we’re currently seeing from the radical right wingers.

  11. 11.

    Ella in New Mexico

    We continue to fight for our freedoms with significant personal sacrifice to drivers in time away from family & lost wages.

     

    With DC diesal prices averaging just over $5 a gallon these idiots can drive in circles just to get flipped off while their family pines for them all they want. What’s stunning is that one’s even wearing masks now so WTF is the point?

  12. 12.

    Shana

    Sheesh, I hope so. Ran into a half dozen or so last week. While traffic didn’t warrant it, I decided to take the express lanes to get out of their way since I have a bunch of democratic bumper stickers on my car and the WaPo had reported that morning that the drivers were getting paranoid about “Antifa cars” threatening them.

    BTW, it’s raining today. Did they take the day off again?

  16. 16.

    Poe Larity

    Any way to lean on Amazon or other shippers to “cancel” these clowns from getting work?

    The they can spend all their time with their families.

  17. 17.

    Spanky

    As an alumna of the DC Beltway commute, I assure you that driving the Beltway is already seen by thousands as meaningless, yet somehow necessary.

    And no one can articulate why they still are compelled to do it.

  20. 20.

    Bill Arnold

    @trollhattan:

    What’s a “scientific officer?” He Mister Spock or something?

    May be the same Paul Alexander who reported to Michael Caputo, who quit after a mental breakdown (and throat cancer, subsequently reported) and Paul Alexander lost his position too.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    Open thread?

    Window shopping galore on Amazon for gewgaws, gimcracks and suchlike for the new vehicle. 99% of which will likely never be purchased, but it is a lot of fun rooting around looking at down the rabbit hole stuff there.

    Only things actually obtained (and already received) are a seat cushion, an astonishingly bright miniature flashlight (lucked out in receiving a blue one which goes well with the interior), a travel mug* for coffee or water and one absolute must have, a sturdy. stable and moderately heavy ashtray** which can be flipped shut (fits in one section of the tray in the nook under the dash in front of the center console like it was made for it).

    *Couldn’t be more satisfied with the airtight food storage containers from Lock & Lock I already use so have high hopes for this bottle.

    **I know, I know. Could double as an attractive repository for candy, coins or the like for non-smokers. Don’t think it will be necessary but if it is I can always attach it with Velcro dots under each foot.

  23. 23.

    West of the Rockies

    Sometimes when I’ve had enough of these trucker pinheads, I pop onto Sorryantivaxxer.com… and chuckle

    It also makes me a little sad.  So.  Much.  Stubborn.   Stupidity.

  24. 24.

    Old Man Shadow

    @Baud: They want a world that revolves around them and they want all of the “lessers” like us to continually praise them and fawn over them.

    They’re the ultimate participation trophy candy asses whining and bleating pathetically for adoration and reverence because they have white skin and a penis.

    Sad widdle snowflakes who don’t realize that we don’t give a fuck about them. Life doesn’t give a fuck about them. And they need to grow the fuck up, put on their big boy pants and deal with the fact that America doesn’t just belong to them. The rest of us are fucking here, we aren’t leaving, and if they don’t like it, they should get the fuck out.

  25. 25.

    debbie

    Hope Adam gets a chance to see this:

    Fascinating claimed intercepted call from Russian officer near Mykolaiv to superiors in Russia. He says:
    – This is worse than Chechnya
    – 50% of troops have frostbite
    – They can’t evacuate the dead
    – Don’t have enough tents
    – RU plane dropped a bomb on their own position ? pic.twitter.com/3KjGrqD5jZ
    — Dmitri Alperovitch (@DAlperovitch) March 23, 2022

  26. 26.

    Old Man Shadow

    @debbie: Given Putin seemed to believe his own hype, I can totally see his army not being issued proper outdoor clothes and tents as well as not planning for the logistics for dealing with large number of dead.

  27. 27.

    JoyceH

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    As President, you’ll be expected to show up and give a speech every year. Not unlike the National Prayer Breakfast, or the Annual Turkey Pardoning.

    The Easter Egg Roll, and all those various occasions where the President has to place a wreath somewhere. And every Mar 17, the President has to meet in the WH with someone from the Irish government who will present shamrocks.

  33. 33.

    Ruckus

    @Ken:

    Driving in circles all day makes perfect sense – given the rational for this whatever the hell it is.

    Go round and round, waste time, fuel, pollute, block traffic, have zero concept of what the hell they are doing or why, repeat until?

    Could there be a better example of circular logic?

  36. 36.

    Old Man Shadow

    @debbie: He’s surrounded himself with Yes Men and sycophants too afraid to tell him the truth.

    And he’s filled his government with grifters and thieves who have probably stolen a lot of money meant to outfit the army or provided substandard goods to the army at a premium price.

    And his army is full of conscripts fielded from poor, rural areas who are tortured as initiation. If conditions are that bad, the only thing stopping desertion en masse is the fear of being shot and pretty soon that’s not going to be much motivation if they think they’re dead anyway.

  38. 38.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    JUST IN: The Supreme Court is refusing to answer whether Clarence Thomas is still in the hospital after he missed arguments today, per @ap.

    — No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) March 23, 2022

  45. 45.

    Captain C

    @debbie: He’s steadily, over the course of two decades, surrounded himself with simpering, incompetent yes-men who aren’t a threat to his position.  Such people will only tell him what they think won’t get them fired, or make them the victim of a very unconvincing suicide.  Thus, by the time information gets to Big Vlad, it’s been made to look cheerfully positive, no matter what the reality of the situation on the ground is, so of course he heard that the army was in tip top shape and that the Ukrainians couldn’t wait to be subsumed into being Russians.

    Basically, as a totalitarian with a twitchy trigger finger, Putin gets fed a steady diet of Bullshit, as per the Harry G. Frankfurt book On Bullshit.  The info given to Putin has a specific goal in mind (the giver continues to live and maybe even prosper) and its connection or lack thereof to reality is incidental at best

    ETA:  Add in that everyone from Putin on down has been seriously on the take, and there’s a lot of incentive to hide one’s own role in the corruption and general mess, regardless of what Bullshit is necessary for the task.

  48. 48.

    Calouste

    @debbie: Russia is corrupt from top to bottom. First you get people taking their cut off the top, so part the winter gear only existed on paper and was never delivered, and what was delivered was second rate. Then each layer down the chain took their cut and sold stuff to army “surplus” stores or gave it away to friends and family.

  50. 50.

    Another Scott

    @TriassicSands: I think she kinda addressed that in an answer to a questions from a RWNJ about why doesn’t someone’s sincerely held religious beliefs trump everything because of Jesus and the rights in the First Amendment.

    She made the point, as I remember it, that a “right” isn’t a “I get to do whatever I want” card, it’s a thing that means that government has to tread carefully in making new rules and laws, etc., about it.  There are always balancings that have to be done when something reaches a court.

    She also made the point today (and probably earlier) that the legal system has to be stable (that people will ignore it if the rules are changing back and forth all the time) and it should be consistent with earlier rulings and be based upon the intent of the laws that Congress writes.  (So Congress should write better laws).

    So, IMO, there’s no way she would have some radical opinion about the 9th Amendment (“The Constitution doesn’t say that murder is forbidden, therefore by the 9th Amendment I can …!!1ONE”).

    :-/

    The hearings are a waste of time when it comes to how the senators will vote.  But they’re very good for showing us all what kind of temperament and skills she has in arguments, and  in presenting her story of how she does her job.

    She’s got a good head on her shoulders.  She answered the questions carefully and thoughtfully and didn’t box herself in – just what we would want in someone who will have to address all kinds of complex issues in the future.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Calouste:

    Russia is corrupt from top to bottom.

    In WWI, Russia ran into big, big trouble because it turned out 25% of their bullets were filled with birdseed.  The nobles operating the armories sold the gunpowder.  After the absolute shit show of the Russian Olympics, nothing about Russia’s disastrous logistics has surprised me.  It’s probably worse even than we think.

  58. 58.

    Hoppie

    @Spanky: Condolences.  Back in the day, I had driven on EVERY one of the roads on Frogger.  Living in Baltimore, the DC Beltway was unavoidable unless you never went anywhere.  Duh.

  60. 60.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    Last I saw, he was ahead of Lamb, though I don’t remember by how much.  They aren’t beating each other up too much, though.  Primary isn’t until May, so there’s still time for that to happen.  I think it will be close.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Honestly, I was surprised with China’s handling of the Winter Oympics.  Obviously covid was an issue but still….  Of course, they set a high bar for themselves in 2008.

  64. 64.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    He wanted Oz out so he could appoint his own better-qualified person is my guess. Oz has less than zero credibility in regard to sports, fitness, and nutrition at this point.

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: It’s just the “by the end of the day” part that made me wonder if something in particular had happened.

    But I agree that he should have resigned the day he announced he was running.

  66. 66.

    geg6

    @debbie:

    Not that I recall.  As far as I remember, he’s had the lead in polling all along.  Sometimes by more and sometimes by less, but always in the lead.  He has much better name recognition, having won statewide.  Lamb also doesn’t have name advantage in Pittsburgh due to all the years Fetterman was mayor in Braddock.  So it will be interesting.

  67. 67.

    Captain C

    @debbie: Unfortunately for such control freaks, when they have power and life and death over their subordinates, they’ll get worse and worse information over time, if only because there’s not enough time in the day for one tyrant to gather all the necessary info he needs personally, let alone do anything else, so they need other people.  Plus, Putin’s mind may not be what it once was, for whatever reason.

  69. 69.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    I wasn’t paying attention with China, but I remember that Putin spent gigantic amounts of money on bringing in the Olympics for the prestige, built this whole Olympic village town, and the buildings were literally falling apart and the plumbing didn’t work.  Why?  Because Russia is so fluffing corrupt that even on Putin’s direct pet project, the money got skimmed at every level until a palace became a hovel.  That was when I realized just how little control Putin has over the country, despite being an autocrat.

  71. 71.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    He’s basically tied with David MCormick.  Every single GQPer running is trying to out asshole the rest.  It’s horrific watching commercial tv these days.  You can’t imagine the ads.

  74. 74.

    karen marie

    @Ken:  I have absolutely no idea how I’ve missed the Gormenghast novels until now.  Apparently I live an incredibly sheltered life.

    When you say the series is better than LOTR, is that a recommendation to give it a shot or is it what’s known in the trade as “scant praise”?

    ADD:  I looked at your comment again, and you didn’t say that about LOTR – must have been a review I quickly scanned.  Question still stands, though – recommended or no?

  78. 78.

    Kay

    More low quality junk from the Trump hires:

    In a per curiam (unsigned) opinion on the shadow docket, over the dissent of Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, the Supreme Court has rejected a redistricting plan that a divided Wisconsin Supreme Court had adopted for drawing state assembly and senate districts. I am on my way to teach and so I have time for just a brief analysis here, but the way this case was handled is quite bizarre and is another signal of a conservative supermajority of the Supreme Court showing increasing hostility to section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

    Time for the far Right justices to go out and deliver some more whining, self-pitying speeches about “cancel culture” to distract from their lousy work product.

  80. 80.

    Geminid

    @Shana: I bet people in Hagerstown will be glad to see the backs of those boneheads.

    Hagerstown got some good news Monday. Hitachi Rail announced that they selected a site in a nearby industrial park to assemble 256 passenger cars for the DC Metro, which has options for 800 more to be built later this decade. The plant will be the size of five football fields, and when operations begin in 2024 it will employ over 400 people and support as many as 800 contractors, consultants and service workers.

  81. 81.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @karen marie:

    recommended or no?

    Christ almighty, NO.  Ghormengast is a unique book.  If you have wide literary tastes and want to read something unusual with its own intense amount of style, yes, you should read it.  In general literary terms it is a flaming pile of garbage.  It includes a THREE PAGE METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING NOT EVEN IMPORTANT.  The plot is wandering, everyone is incredibly unlikable, and everything is overdescribed to a mind-boggling extent.

    It is, unquestionably, one of a kind.  So if that is enough for you, go for it.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    So, to sum up: the Court used a case in an emergency procedural posture to reach out and decide an issue that could have waited for full briefing and argument either in a lower court in a challenge to the maps or if the Supreme Court had set the case for argument. It decided these issues in ways hostile to minority voting rights without giving a full opportunity for airing out the issues and pointing out how this will further hurt voters of color. It continues to chip away at the Voting Rights Act without acknowledging that it is killing off the last major protection for minority voters from discriminatory districting plans.

    Lazy, shoddy work on the “shadow docket”.
    They go out of their way to point people in some other direction than the actual work they produce, the speechifying, the complaints, the reliance in insisting they’re somehow unfairly treated because they know 99.9% of the public won’t read what they issue, but don’t be fooled. It’s junk.

  84. 84.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen @NoLieWithBTC · 2h

    JUST IN: A photo taken by @kentnish shows Ted Cruz searching Twitter for his own name after questioning Ketanji Brown Jackson with debunked narratives and going back and forth with Dick Durbin.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Jibes with my mercifully distant memories. Might have been that that sent me spiraling down into the pun-laden fantasy novels of . . . Piers Anthony. Couldn’t remember the name for a minute. Talk about forgettable.

  87. 87.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Another Scott:

    Good analysis, Scott. Good observations.

    I’m not necessarily predicting this, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she picked up some Republican votes, maybe (mirabile dictu!) even one or two from the committee. It seems to me that a lot of people were impressed with her despite themselves. Let’s see if it holds.

    She’ll probably cast occasional votes that I profoundly disagree with, but I am certain she will have reached every opinion thoughtfully and compassionately. So impressive

  88. 88.

    Kalakal

    @Frankensteinbeck: I really enjoyed the  Gormenghast books, but fully agree with your description. There were times I found the writing so vivid and intense I could see the events described. If anyone is thinking of reading the books be aware that the language is incredibly dense. You can read a chapter of LOTR faster than a paragraph of Gormenghast. They are long books in every sense of the word.

    It is its own thing

    Also Steerpike is a fantastic villain

  89. 89.

    karen marie

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, no, I think I’ll skip it.  Knowing about it is enough.   If Librivox had it, I’d give it a shot but there are too many books to spend money on something like you describe, but it’s not public domain, so …

    I appreciate you letting me know!

  91. 91.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Calouste: To be fair, while these are all archaic, how and why they started are all a matter of record and, as Prince Philip once remarked about the annual Garter service, ‘Of course it’s all ridiculous, but it’s harmless and people seem to like the pageantry.’

  93. 93.

    Nutmeg again

    Speaking of grifters, I see there’s a news embargo of the Clarence Thomas not-Covid situation. Any good speculation going?

  94. 94.

    Skepticat

    @Nutmeg again:

    The silence bodes ill, though it isn’t surprising, given the source. From my limited first-responder experience, I’m thinking (and rather embarrassed to say hoping for) sepsis. I simply hope he’s off the bench for the foreseeable future,

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @Steeplejack:

    Warning – TheHill:

    A letter from the administration was shown in a video Oz released on the situation. The letter states Oz needs to resign or he will be ousted at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

    “It’s sad that he would politicize such an important issue like health. The doctor he should ask to resign is Dr. Fauci, for a multitude of obvious reasons,” Oz said in the caption of the video.

    A similar letter was also sent to [Herschel] Walker, who is running in Georgia, CNN reported.

    A White House official said it is the administration’s policy not to let those running for federal office be on presidential boards.

    The only way Oz can get in the news is to make a stink about this, so he’ll make a stink.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  97. 97.

    oatler

    @Ken:

    Check out “The Dark Breakfast” chapter from Titus Groan.  Stream- of- consciousness passages up the wazoo.

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