[The coolest rejoinder to the manly, cacophony of trucks barreling
down a D.C. street, horns blaring, was one lone chill biker, languidly
pedaling in front of them: "#BikeMan slowing down the forces of
#DumbTruckIstan." Not all heroes wear capes.] [[link removed]]

THE WHEELS OF THE TRUCKS (STILL) GO ROUND AND ROUND: SEND IN THE
WHINING, RACIST, CLUELESS CLOWNS  
[[link removed]]


 

Abby Zimet
March 22, 2022
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

_ The coolest rejoinder to the manly, cacophony of trucks barreling
down a D.C. street, horns blaring, was one lone chill biker, languidly
pedaling in front of them: "#BikeMan slowing down the forces of
#DumbTruckIstan." Not all heroes wear capes. _

, WYSIWYG TV Shorts/Shutterstock

 

DESPITE A FLOOD OF fake news about some slight disturbance in some
backwater place called Ukraine, it turns out the true fight for
liberty has been unfurling for weeks in our own, troubled,
mask-enslaved country, where a noble Freedom Convoy of truckers - at
one time touted to draw up to 100,000, but currently topped out at
about 100 diesel-guzzling souls stubbornly impervious to reality - has
come to save us. The story behind the convoy is long and winding. We
told it a while ago in a lengthy post our computer then devoured in
one malignant gulp, so we're not dredging up the links again; here's
[[link removed]] two
to prove
[[link removed]] we're
not making it up.) In brief: In thrall to the Flu Trucks Klan hordes
who invaded Canada this winter, two truck convoys set out from
California on Feb. 23 for Washington D.C., or possibly not really into
D.C. but somewhere around there, unless a select few decided to
actually go into D.C., but they weren't sure.

Their initial goal was to disrupt Biden's State of the Union speech -
yes it was that long ago - and occupy D.C. (or not) to protest evil,
life-saving COVID restrictions like vaccine mandates behind lofty if
QAnon-flavored slogans like "Let's Go Brandon" "Rise Up!" "Blinded by
the Mask" "Jesus Saves" and other stuff for freedumb. Also to whine
about other things in guvment, like CRT and socialism, they might not
like though they're not sure what they are, but still. Unfortunately,
by the time they left, mandates were largely a thing of the past.
Also, unfortunately, the next day, a bloodthirsty madman invaded
Ukraine, which swiftly garnered the attention of a famously fickle
media, as, in this case, it should have.

Nonetheless, they bravely set out. Again briefly: The first "People's
Convoy" had about 200 vehicles - a half-dozen 18-wheelers with the
rest a smattering of pick-ups and SUVs; by the time they got to Las
Vegas they had 5 vehicles and disbanded, urging fellow travelers to
join one of the other purported convoys setting forth. The same thing
happened to a second "Freedom Convoy." But several other fleets did
startup - from the mid-West to the Northeast - lumbering along as
local media dutifully reported on their progress, the handfuls of
flag-waving patriots on overpasses, the times they got lost, ran out
of gas, crashed into some pick-ups in Oklahoma and the guy
[[link removed]] in
Scranton who promised to "choke D.C." but when nobody else showed
doggedly drove his Jesus-bedecked 18-wheeler in circles around the
mall. (Again, look it up.) They remained enthused; a woman eating
grilled elk at a campfire in Arizona happily proclaimed, "This is
freedom!" (Ditto. We spent a lot of time on that post.) Ultimately,
they came together
[[link removed]] at
Maryland's Hagerstown Speedway, a good hour-and-a-half drive from D.C.
There they built an encampment, held meetings to make garbled speeches
about how Russia and Ukraine were just a distraction from them, and
tried to figure out
[[link removed]] what
to do next, given it was a week past SOTU and the end of most
mandates. Reports on their numbers varied, but probably peaked at
about 1,000.

They've now been camped at the Speedway for almost two weeks, griping
and plotting amidst their rigs, tents, flags, campfires, imaginary
grievances, JFK Jr. fantasies
[[link removed]] and
banners proclaiming "Trump 2024," "Free the People" and "Jesus Is the
Way." But to what? Their rhetoric echoes last month's deranged
[[link removed]] CPAC 2022, where
"Trump was right about everything," masks cause drug abuse and all
we need [[link removed]] is
"Jesus Guns Babies," and no trans kids
[[link removed]].
In a godless society, said
[[link removed]] one,
"Unless you’re ready to, I guess, kill us all, you better change
your minds because we’re not going to live as slaves.” One lady's
biggest concern
[[link removed]]:
"I don't want 'em to digital us...make us robots." All told, their
eloquent, inchoate goal: "We're going to plug this fucking highway up
completely... We're going to fuck some shit up. If (the government)
don't do what we say, it's gonna happen." By the time they finally
started circling
[[link removed]] D.C.
on its 64-mile, famously packed Beltway over a week ago, they were
psyched. Organizers at first announced they'd do one loop a day, then
"escalated" to two. The truckers eagerly joined the fray, blaring
airhorns, flying flags, further snarling traffic and often
getting separated
[[link removed]] in what
became an ever more inane exercise in loud futility. Also pricey.
With soaring
[[link removed]] gas
prices, diesel has hit almost 5 bucks a pop - or up to $1,400 to fill
one of these big boys' tanks, a tab dark-money, right-wing groups are
reportedly picking up.
[[link removed]]

Unsurprisingly except to pointlessly circling yahoos, harried D.C.
drivers were less than happy
[[link removed]] to
see, hear and smell them, which is why so many have taken to flipping
them off as they drive by. "Birds are flying everywhere," whined one
driver. It got worse when, after a week or so of circling,they got
bored and started lurching into D.C. proper, further jamming roads,
also sight-seeing
[[link removed]].
Residents have dubbed them "a fever dream on wheels," "a lynch mob
with bad gas mileage," "Fox News’ immigrant caravans, but with white
people and _actually_ dangerous. 

Day by day they've added hashtags:  #ConvoyGoHome
[[link removed]], #DCMeansDontCome
[[link removed]], #FreeDumbConvoyOut
[[link removed]], #Clownvoy 2022
[[link removed]]. "U woke up today and no
one was bombing your house or hospitals, but u complain you have to
wear a mask at wal-mart?" sneered one. Also, "Why the fuck are they
still downtown?" and, "Why the fuck are they still?" Things that
haven't helped their popularity ratings: The paranoid
[[link removed]] idiocy
that makes them think every middle finger belongs to Antifa - On C.B.
radio: "Six Antifa vehicles! Six Antifa vehicles! Keep your heads on a
swivel!"; their efforts to clog 911 lines in petty response, despite
broad consensus said fingers don't constitute an emergency; their
growing belligerence, from punching
[[link removed]] a
commuter's window to boxing in
[[link removed]] a Tesla
driver to not letting a distraught driver late for a doctor's
appointment get through until she swore
[[link removed]] she wasn't
going for an abortion, which is definitely their business. WTF.

Because they're white/ not asking for racial equity, they've found a
few icky friends
[[link removed]] in high
places. After killing off
[[link removed]] their
pensions, Ted Cruz played
[[link removed]] trucker
with them - beamed one, “There ain’t no ignoring a senator riding
in the lead truck”; Gym Jordan said, "God bless you" when they
moaned about the 1st Amendment rights of "a very massive movement"; a
GOP senator gave
[[link removed]] some
a tour of the Capitol, leading one worried staffer to notify the FBI.
But mostly, they kept getting more hurt and enraged 'cause nobody
liked them - press, locals, even police, who put up roadblocks
[[link removed]] to
bar them from the city. After the National Park Service rejected
[[link removed]] an
insane permit request to turn the National Mall into a two-week-long
encampment - organizer Brian Brase said 100,000 fans would come, or
maybe 17, and he feared Antifa disruptions - things got still uglier
[[link removed]].
"We're not going to (go) throat-punch them just yet, even though I
know we would all love to do that,” said
[[link removed]] organizer
Mike Landis; he added to “tear the fence down at the White House and
hang politicians” was “extremely enticing,” but that "isn’t
why we are here.” And that is...? As the hapless days went by,
there's been vague mission creep as they struggle, like the rest of
us, to find a reason to be. Without mandates, they've railed at media,
police, Biden/Harris - "When they're gone, we'll be happy. We'll go
home" - finally ending, like stubborn existential toddlers, with, "We
still here, and we ain't going anywhere."

After a month on the road, the incoherent procession of truckers,
crackpots, crybabies, small dogs, big mouths and old guys in Uncle Sam
costumes last week attained a kind of Beckett-like clarity, a sharp
pinnacle of aggrieved farce and ugly tragedy when it finally morphed
into...a lynch mob crusading against black people. At the Speedway's
morning meeting, a motorcyclist stood onstage and announced,
[[link removed]] "Everybody
needs to get to D.C. now.” Then he outlined his idea for the new day
upon them. “What’s going to happen up there in D.C., Black Lives
Matter street, we’re going to take it back!” he declared.
[[link removed]] “All
that paint’s coming off that street. Before I get put in my grave
it’s gonna get tar and feathered.” Wan cheers from the small
crowd. Ominous pause. "And then we’re going to tar and feather all
our delegates.” Confused pall: Wait, can we do that? No, not without
elevating a vandalizing of public property to a federal hate crime.
But then the point of the MAGA hysteria would be clear, and it's
definitely not racist to deface a Black Lives Matter Plaza
[[link removed]] of 50-foot
letters dedicated to the proposition that all people are created
equal. Right? Ummm...The coolest, quietest, trollingest rejoinder to
this atrocity came Saturday as another massive, manly, cacophony of
trucks barreling down a D.C. street, horns blaring, was stopped in its
petulant tracks by one lone chill biker, languidly pedaling in front
of them: "#BikeMan [[link removed]] slowing down
the forces of #DumbTruckIstan."
[[link removed]] Even better: When a guy
in a car pulled
[[link removed]] alongside
the biker to yell, "Hey, you've got a bunch of trucks behind you."
"What's that?" the blithe biker called back. "Sorry, I can't hear you.
It's too loud." Not all heroes wear capes.

_ABBY ZIMET [[link removed]] has
written CD's FURTHER [[link removed]] column
since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, she moved to the
Maine woods in the early 70s, where she spent a dozen years building a
house, hauling water and writing before moving to Portland. Having
come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has long been
involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee
rights issues. Email: [email protected]_

_Common Dreams is a reader-supported independent news outlet created
in 1997 as a new media model.  Our nonprofit newsroom covers the most
important news stories of the moment. Common Dreams free online
journalism keeps our millions of readers well-informed, inspired, and
engaged.  We are optimists. We believe real change is possible. But
only if enough well-informed, well-intentioned—and just plain fed up
and fired-up—people demand it. We believe that together we can
attain our common dreams.  _

_We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100% reader
supported.  DONATE_

* Trump supporters [[link removed]]
* US Right Wing [[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web [[link removed]]
Submit via email
Frequently asked questions [[link removed]]
Manage subscription [[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org [[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]