America's trucker convoy struggles to reach goal of shutting down the DC Beltway
Sarah K. Burris
February 23, 2022
Americans who supported the Canada trucker protest in Ottawa have decided to create a convoy of their own, but it isn't quite working out as they'd hoped.
Earlier this morning, one Scranton trucker, Bob Bolus, desperately waited for others who promised they'd join him. No one came. Then he found out he had two flat tires. Finally, once the tires were changed he did a "parade" with his truck in downtown Scranton. Once he took off for Washington he was able to collect at least 7 others to join with the convoy to the Capitol.
Bolus is well known to the Scranton community. He has run for mayor frequently, even as a write-in candidate.
He's was also charged with insurance fraud.
Meanwhile, in the western United States, it became clear that those leaving California for Washington weren't going to arrive for the movement Wednesday. In fact, they estimate that it will take them a week to get to DC, which means that they'll also miss protests of the State of the Union address.
Over 1,000 vehicles met at Adelanto Stadium for the California convoy. Most of them aren't staying with the convoy all the way across the U.S. As Reuters reported, even the leading live-streamer plans to stop in Arizona.
The low numbers could be a problem if the intent is to lockdown the Beltway, which is 64 miles long.
In an exchange with a person claiming to be from Montana fought with a person talking about the time for praying is over. "GET OFF YOUR ASS AND FIGHT!!???" the person said. Bragging about building ARs and posting photos of a gun cabinet, the "Montana Patriot" said that they were heading to DC to "fight."
Utah has many cars as part of their convoy, though claims of a "thousand" vehicles appears exaggerated. While there might be "six miles" of the convoy, there are quite a few large spaces between each vehicle.
"The People’s Convoy will abide by agreements with local authorities, and terminate in the vicinity of the DC area, but will NOT be going into DC proper," they said in a press release, according to WJLA news.
Washington, DC has laws about the constant movement of traffic. As the Capitol city, Washington has many areas with heavy security perimeters around them. The narrow neighborhood streets and constant battles for parking means the city isn't a friendly place for anyone stopping on the streets. In fact, DC DOT regulates "through truck travel" the website says. "Few streets in the District of Columbia are completely restricted to trucks. Except for a few locations near sensitive federal structures, a truck restriction means that the street is closed to through truck traffic, but open to trucks making local deliveries."
The laws also say, "no trucks are permitted on the Roosevelt Bridge entering/exiting Washington DC and Virginia." they also say, "trucks are prohibited on I-66 east of I-495."
While both Maryland and Virginia have Republican governors, blocking highways in their states isn't likely to go over well. The Beltway is the route typically taken for Pentagon workers, NSA staff, CIA staff, Andrews Air Force Base, and others.
One trucker linked the orbit of Pluto to their overall goals of the convoy. It was supposed to be about protesting vaccine mandates, which have been struck down by the Supreme Court. Given the lighter Omiceron variant more and more cities have begun to eliminate most mandates.
As the news and videos of the small convoys spread, they've become the butt of the joke for those living in the DMV metro area.
See the comments below:
US Truck convoy backers tied to Capitol riot — including MAGA lawyer who called for hangings on Jan. 5: reportSarah K. Burris
February 23, 2022
Americans who supported the Canada trucker protest in Ottawa have decided to create a convoy of their own, but it isn't quite working out as they'd hoped.
Earlier this morning, one Scranton trucker, Bob Bolus, desperately waited for others who promised they'd join him. No one came. Then he found out he had two flat tires. Finally, once the tires were changed he did a "parade" with his truck in downtown Scranton. Once he took off for Washington he was able to collect at least 7 others to join with the convoy to the Capitol.
Bolus is well known to the Scranton community. He has run for mayor frequently, even as a write-in candidate.
He's was also charged with insurance fraud.
Meanwhile, in the western United States, it became clear that those leaving California for Washington weren't going to arrive for the movement Wednesday. In fact, they estimate that it will take them a week to get to DC, which means that they'll also miss protests of the State of the Union address.
Over 1,000 vehicles met at Adelanto Stadium for the California convoy. Most of them aren't staying with the convoy all the way across the U.S. As Reuters reported, even the leading live-streamer plans to stop in Arizona.
The low numbers could be a problem if the intent is to lockdown the Beltway, which is 64 miles long.
In an exchange with a person claiming to be from Montana fought with a person talking about the time for praying is over. "GET OFF YOUR ASS AND FIGHT!!???" the person said. Bragging about building ARs and posting photos of a gun cabinet, the "Montana Patriot" said that they were heading to DC to "fight."
Utah has many cars as part of their convoy, though claims of a "thousand" vehicles appears exaggerated. While there might be "six miles" of the convoy, there are quite a few large spaces between each vehicle.
"The People’s Convoy will abide by agreements with local authorities, and terminate in the vicinity of the DC area, but will NOT be going into DC proper," they said in a press release, according to WJLA news.
Washington, DC has laws about the constant movement of traffic. As the Capitol city, Washington has many areas with heavy security perimeters around them. The narrow neighborhood streets and constant battles for parking means the city isn't a friendly place for anyone stopping on the streets. In fact, DC DOT regulates "through truck travel" the website says. "Few streets in the District of Columbia are completely restricted to trucks. Except for a few locations near sensitive federal structures, a truck restriction means that the street is closed to through truck traffic, but open to trucks making local deliveries."
The laws also say, "no trucks are permitted on the Roosevelt Bridge entering/exiting Washington DC and Virginia." they also say, "trucks are prohibited on I-66 east of I-495."
While both Maryland and Virginia have Republican governors, blocking highways in their states isn't likely to go over well. The Beltway is the route typically taken for Pentagon workers, NSA staff, CIA staff, Andrews Air Force Base, and others.
One trucker linked the orbit of Pluto to their overall goals of the convoy. It was supposed to be about protesting vaccine mandates, which have been struck down by the Supreme Court. Given the lighter Omiceron variant more and more cities have begun to eliminate most mandates.
As the news and videos of the small convoys spread, they've become the butt of the joke for those living in the DMV metro area.
See the comments below:
John Wright
February 23, 2022
Shutterstock.
A new report claims that groups who are backing the so-called "Freedom Convoy" that was scheduled to leave from California on Wednesday include a political action committee that has focused on defending Florida GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz, as well as a group led by former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn.
"Though it was billed as a grass-roots, nonpartisan event intended to oppose government Covid-19 mandates, a trucker demonstration that left California for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday appeared to be tightly aligned with far-right organizations and activists," the New York Times reports. "Many of those behind the demonstration, which was planned as an American version of last month’s chaotic Canadian protest, have connections to the violent attack on the Capitol in January 2021, or supported the lie that fraud in the 2020 presidential election was to blame for Donald J. Trump’s loss."
About 40 truckers reportedly gathered for the kickoff of the convoy Adelanto, Calif., on Wednesday.
"A flag-strewn send-off rally that resembled a Make America Great Again event drew about a hundred more vehicles," the NYT reports. "Unlike in Ottawa, where a recent weekslong protest shut down parts of Canada’s capital, the activity near Barstow, Calif., on Wednesday seemed highly staged, with memorabilia stands and food trucks."
Last month, the Great American Patriot Project PAC, which focused on defending Gaetz amid allegations that he sex-trafficked a minor, issued a call for people to support the convoy.
"Darrel Courtney, the chief executive of the Adelanto Stadium and Event Center, said he received a call last Tuesday from Leigh Dundas, an Orange County lawyer and Republican activist, who wanted to rent the parking lot," the NYT reports. "Ms. Dundas, a lawyer for an anti-vaccine group whose leader was charged with entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Ms. Dundas was videotaped the day before the riot rallying pro-Trump crowds with calls to kill any “alleged Americans” who might have helped undermine the 2020 elections."
Dundas told a crowd in DC on Jan. 5, “We would be well within our rights to take any alleged American who acted in a turncoat fashion and sold us out and committed treason — we would be well within our right to take them out back and shoot them or hang them."
Other organizations supporting the convoy include those led by anti-vaxx leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Flynn.
"That latter group, the America Project, has combined its attempts to challenge Covid-19 policies with the relentless promotion of pro-Trump election conspiracy theories," the NYT reports. "The group is run by Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of Overstock.com who, with General Flynn, was central in a bizarre plot to persuade the former president to use the military to seize voting machines in a bid to stay in power."
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