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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPeople's Convoy Gives Up After Accomplishing Nothing in D.C.
Link to tweet
https://www.thedailybeast.com/peoples-convoy-gives-up-will-leave-washington-dc-area-after-three-weeks-of-doing-nothing?via=Twitter page
Three weeks after the so-called Peoples Convoy landed in Washington, D.C., the group is calling it quits after accomplishing nothing except injuring residents and circling the Beltway.
Co-organizer Mike Landis announced Sunday night that the group would pack its things up in the coming days and drive back to California.
So what I want to know is, what do you think about heading to California? Landis asked, to the crowds delight.
Landis further said that convoy-goers who remain posted up in Hagerstown, Marylandwho have experienced many freezing nights while camped out in the small town an hour and a half north of D.C. properwill enjoy a southern route back to California.
*snip*
EYESORE 9001
(25,808 posts)be dogged by D.O.T. and state troopers, breakdowns and flats, every mother-lovin mile of the way.
2naSalit
(86,031 posts)Make them drop a bunch of that astroturf cash along the way.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,436 posts)FakeNoose
(32,328 posts)Time to pack up and go home!
erronis
(14,941 posts)MarcA
(2,195 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(4,963 posts)Aristus
(66,075 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,430 posts)How do you spell L-O-S-E-R-S ! ! !
calimary
(80,693 posts)Capperdan
(490 posts)You shitheads and your flags can keep your gas hogs out of my face. I still flip the bird when I see you
NewHendoLib
(59,940 posts)all kinds, all places. we in the US have some of the worst - TFG cult in its entirety - Putin and his enablers - just incredible.
2naSalit
(86,031 posts)I'm surrounded.
Rustynaerduwell
(646 posts)For protesting vaccine mandates by catching covid and high gas prices by wasting fuel.
lindysalsagal
(20,433 posts)They're not the people's anything.
Stinky The Clown
(67,669 posts)I wish you miles of broken glass and Super high gas prices now that your sugar daddies cut your allowance.
Totally Tunsie
(10,885 posts)after wasting thousands of gallons in their feeble attempt at accomplishing...nothing.
*sigh*
C Moon
(12,188 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(143,998 posts)SoCalDavidS
(9,998 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,254 posts)I know my low here in Philly this morning was an obscene 22 and I expect they were similar there given they aren't far from the south central PA border. They are also forecast to go down to 21 tonight. Hagerstown does not = California by any stretch of the imagination!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Many have been pulling out today.
BumRushDaShow
(127,254 posts)in the LBN thread about this here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2895262
They supposedly had plans to go to Harrisburg (our capital here in PA) that has been under a Snow Squall Warning much of the day.
Frying pan to the fire - or better - from the frozen lake to the liquid nitrogen.
ETA - and the pile-ups have commenced -
Updated: Mar. 28, 2022, 2:38 p.m. | Published: Mar. 28, 2022, 1:05 p.m.
Schuylkill County crash
By Jenna Wise | jwise@pennlive.com
Dangerous snow squalls have already caused multiple crashes Monday afternoon thanks to blowing snow and gusty winds on central Pennsylvania roads, forecasters said. Dont go out, dont drive, Amanda Wagner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told PennLive. Avoid travel if at all possible.
Those who do have to drive and get stuck in a snow squall should slow down, turn on their headlights and hazards, and get off the highway at the nearest exit. A snow squall warning is set to expire at 1:30 p.m., but Wagner said squalls could continue to crop up through the afternoon before tapering off this evening. Up to 35 mph winds are likely Monday.
Wagner said Mondays snow squalls are the equivalent of a summer thunderstorm quick, intense, fast-moving and dangerous.A Schuylkill County stretch of Interstate 81 is completely shut down Monday afternoon after a possibly weather-related pile-up. Wagner said the NWS has received multiple reports of crashes and pile-ups due to the weather.
PennDOT spokesman Ronald Young said the following detours are in place for I-81: traffic on I-81 north coming from west of Harrisburg is being directed to US 22/322 north, traffic on I-81 north coming from east of Harrisburg is being directed to I-78 east to PA 61 north, and traffic coming from the Lehigh Valley on I-78 west is being directed to PA 309 north.
More: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/03/multi-vehicle-crash-shuts-down-i-81-in-schuylkill-county.html
https://www.pennlive.com/weather/2022/03/avoid-travel-amid-dangerous-central-pa-snow-squalls-forecasters-say.html
And ETA2 - another in effect for closer to Hagertown (for those who haven't left yet or in transit) -
Link to tweet
@NWSStateCollege
A snow squall warning is in effect until 3:45 PM EDT for I-81, US-11 near Hagerstown, MD--WV--PA; I-81, US-30, US-11 near Chambersburg, PA; I-70, US-30 near Everett, PA and I-70, US-220, US-30 near Bedford, PA.
This graphic displays a snow squall warning plotted on a map. The warning is in effect until 3:45 PM EDT. The warning includes I-81, US-11 near Hagerstown, MD--WV--PA; I-81, US-30, US-11 near Chambersburg, PA; I-70, US-30 near Everett, PA and I-70, US-220, US-30 near Bedford, PA. White out conditions in heavy blowing snow are expected. These conditions are resulting in Dangerous life threatening travel. There are 239,199 people in this warning along with highways I-76, I-81, I-70.
2:45 PM · Mar 28, 2022 from Pennsylvania, USA
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)about now whose side God is on should suspect PA's for keeping them from being a very unwanted nuisance.
But that won't happen. From today's The Washingtonian, a pretty good read:
Amanda Moore, who researches the far right, says they came to believe DC residents were evil. Or brainwashed. Or maybe both. ( )
...Amanda Moore researches the far right in the US and spent a year undercover in MAGA world. As a DC resident, she says she had little choice but to pay attention to this trucker convoy, which she covers on her Twitter account and via her Substack: Its literally inconveniencing my life, she says. If this trucker convoy was in Los Angeles or Houston, I probably wouldnt have spent too much time watching it. But like, I walk out of my office and I run into one of these dipshits. ...
The protests werent as important as the community they built: The Hagerstown Speedway became a mini-village of anti-government protesters during the convoys residency. Jared Holt, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab who studies the far right, called it a a sort of Gathering of the Juggalos for grandparents and uncles whove had their brains turned to taffy by Facebook. Moore describes it as like going to Coachella, but awful and says that based on her own observations, which involved watching hours of livestreams the convoy people blasted out, theres a lot of people in that community whose political beliefs made them quite lonely within their own family unit.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/03/28/trucker-convoy-will-leave-dc-without-accomplishing-anything/
A little less dismissal on our part is in order, of course. As those researchers into extremism know very well, it's not over until it's deflated and the obsession diverted to growing tomatoes and daylilies. For now.
BumRushDaShow
(127,254 posts)a "raison d'etre".
I suppose they are going to spend the next 3 years ranting and raving - or as Shakespeare wrote, they are like -
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)about the time the Scopes Monkey Trial helped deflate the surge of far right extremism back then. Not that simple, of course; but like the truckers, I read that critical numbers "went home" and more or less left national politics. That "wave" passed.
I've been wondering if Russia's Ukraine invasion, making RW hero Putin's plan to subjugate dozens of nations become real, could help this era's wave pass. Of course, I've been waiting for 30 years for something to make that happen.
BumRushDaShow
(127,254 posts)when the strategy (that seemed to finally work) essentially started bankrupting these RW groups almost out of existence - the most storied one of course being the KKK chapter in Alabama after members carried out a lynching
In an item published Friday, the Associated Press erroneously reported that the Alabama NAACP shared in the $7 million jury award to a Mobile, Ala., woman in her federal lawsuit against the United Klans of America Inc. The NAACP withdrew from the suit Jan. 22 after the Klan signed a consent decree pledging to adhere to restrictions against acts of intimidation. (Published 2/15/87)
MOBILE, ALA. -- A federal jury awarded $7 million in damages yesterday against the United Klans of America and six past and present Klansmen in the 1981 slaying of a black teen-ager whose body was left hanging in a tree. The verdict by the all-white jury was awarded to the family of Michael Donald, 19, who was beaten and strangled in Mobile in March 1981.
"I'm glad justice was done," Beulah Mae Donald, the victim's mother, said. "Money don't mean a thing to me. It won't bring my child back. But I'm glad they caught the guilty and brought them to court . . . ."
U.S. District Court Judge Alex Howard said he would hold a hearing within 90 days to determine the Klan's assets and what action was needed to turn them over to Donald's family and the Alabama chapter of the NAACP, the plaintiffs.
The verdict is expected to give the Donald family title to the United Klans' 7,000-square-foot national headquarters building in Tuscaloosa, said Morris Dees, an attorney for Donald's family.
(snip)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/02/13/kkk-ordered-to-pay-7-million-to-family-of-hanging-victim/ff1ce538-221f-4c05-a3aa-8300a14e2620/?utm_term=.cb3aaf1fc847
And those convicted had their wages garnished to contribute to the settlement -
By Jesse Kornbluth
Nov. 1, 1987
(snip)
Mrs. Donald and her attorney, State Senator Michael A. Figures, agreed to participate in the civil suit. Last February, an all-white jury in Mobile needed to deliberate only four hours before awarding her $7 million. In May, the Klan turned over the deed to its only significant asset, the $225,000 national headquarters building in Tuscaloosa. Meanwhile, Mrs. Donald's attorney moved to seize the property and garnish the wages of individual defendants. ''The Klan, at this point, is washed up,'' says Henry Hays, from his cell on death row.
(snip)
When court resumed, the judge nodded to Knowles. ''I've got just a few things to say,'' Knowles began, as he stood in front of the jury box. ''I know that people's tried to discredit my testimony. . . . I've lost my family. I've got people after me now. Everything I said is true. . . . I was acting as a Klansman when I done this. And I hope that people learn from my mistake. . . . I do hope you decide a judgment against me and everyone else involved.''
Then Knowles turned to Beulah Mae Donald, and, as they locked eyes for the first time, begged for her forgiveness. ''I can't bring your son back,'' he said, sobbing and shaking. ''God knows if I could trade places with him, I would. I can't. Whatever it takes - I have nothing. But I will have to do it. And if it takes me the rest of my life to pay it, any comfort it may bring, I hope it will.'' By this time, jurors were openly weeping. The judge wiped away a tear. ''I do forgive you,'' Mrs. Donald said. ''From the day I found out who you all was, I asked God to take care of y'all, and He has.'' Four hours later, the jury announced its $7 million award.
(snip)
Soon, she said, the Klan building will be sold. The Klan's money will make her too prosperous to remain in this housing project. Then she will have to leave her $94-a-month apartment, with its cinderblock walls, steep steps and sad memories. Even now, she says, her daughters are looking for a new apartment, convenient to her church and most of her 32 grandchildren.
(snip)
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/01/magazine/the-woman-who-beat-the-klan.html?pagewanted=all
Hit 'em in the pocketbook can deflate them. But nowadays, they have many "pocketbooks" so whoever can work out successfully targeting those organizations support groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, can try that strategy again.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)including small grassroots donors who want to be part of something that sounds noble. But they're still making big inroads that way.
Not necessarily speaking of the same thing, but a lot of truckers leaving DC are reportedly broke and wondering where the supposed $1M raised is. Up in Canada, a couple organizers of that convoy have just been hit with more criminal charges.
The time period you mention reminds me of the crime busters who devastated the Mafia, going after them for money crimes, and also criminal conspiracy -- calling on people to commit crimes. The crimes don't have to actually be committed, the conspiracy is the crime.
Reason alone for the 3 American convoy organizers who've reportedly been leaving as the gathering gets more unruly and saying they're coming back to...leave. They may be wondering if they budgeted enough for legal fees, but I've heard that attorneys will tell them the first step in their defense is to put a strict and convincing end to all illegal actions drawing the attention of prosecutors.
BumRushDaShow
(127,254 posts)would have absconded with the $$$ and will claim it was used for (fill in the blank lie purposes).
And regarding "legal defense" - they will find other suckers to fund that for them as long as they can keep up the clown show of "talking a good enough game", and perhaps even manage to pick up some seedy "well known" loonville "sponsors" to give them some sort of legitimacy.
One of their biggest mouthpieces is on the lam avoiding his scheduled depositions and the plaintiffs in that Sandy Hook case are calling for his arrest, but he has a deep pocket -
By William Vaillancourt
US far-right radio show host Alex Jones (C) speaks to supporters of US President Donald Trump as they protest in front of the Maricopa County Election Department while votes are being counted in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 6, 2020. (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images)
Hawking supplements and survival gear has been quite a lucrative business for Alex Jones. The conspiracy theorist raked in $165 million from the Infowars store over three years beginning in September 2015, all while begging his supporters to help him stay financially solvent, records obtained by Huff Post revealed on Friday. Jones pleaded with a caller to his radio show to help him pay the bills as recently as Thursday. Im not going to stop growth and let them push us backwards, he said in a typical appeal. I need your help, Frank. I need your help!
The bills Jones needs to pay arent for the cost of electricity at the Infowars studio. Jones is entering 2022 facing potentially massive legal expenses after losing yet another lawsuit stemming from his lies about the Sandy Hook shooting being fake. The news about just how fast merchandise has flown off the shelves of the Infowars store which is known for selling a variety of survivalist items, dubious brain supplements, and more came as the result of a discovery request in a court case brought by a parent of one of the victims of the 2012 massacre. Jones lost the case last September, as he has several others that have been brought over his Sandy Hook lies, and his wallet has taken a hit.
By March 2020, for instance, Jones had amassed $150,000 in legal fees in one case alone one in which he had yet to even face a jury. It is rare to see a legal defense so incompetent and disrespectful to the rule of law that it causes a defendant to rack up $150,000 in fines during preliminary motions before even reaching trial, the attorney for the victims families said at the time. These fines are only the beginning. A far greater reckoning awaits Mr. Jones.
Jones has called the shooting, which left 20 children and six adults dead, a false flag with green screen images and crisis actors. Huff Post pointed out on Friday that on days when Jones pushed lies like these on his show, the sales in his Infowars store rose. Ive watched a lot of soap operas, and Ive seen actors before, Jones said on his Nov. 18, 2016 broadcast. And I know when Im watching a movie and when Im watching something real. Jones total profit that day: $103,513.11.
(snip)
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/alex-jones-infowars-store-165-million-1281059/
By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press
March 25, 2022, 10:19 PM
Lawyers for relatives of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims asked a Connecticut judge again Friday to order the arrest of Infowars host Alex Jones, after he defied a court order to attend a deposition as part of a lawsuit over his calling the massacre a hoax. Jones missed both days of a scheduled deposition Wednesday and Thursday in Austin, Texas, home to Jones and Infowars. He cited a health problem that included vertigo and revealed Friday that it was a sinus infection.
After he didn't show up Wednesday on the advice of his doctors, Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis ordered him to appear Thursday, noting he wasn't hospitalized and had appeared in-person on his show Tuesday. Bellis did not immediately rule on the new arrest request. She rejected a similar motion by the families' lawyer seeking an arrest order after Jones failed to appear Wednesday. She has set a hearing by video conference for Wednesday next week.
The families' lawyers filed a motion late Friday afternoon requesting that Jones be arrested and detained until he sits for a deposition, be fined $25,000 to $50,000 a day until he completes the questioning, be found in contempt of court and to pay their expenses for traveling to Austin this week. The plaintiffs subjected themselves to hours and hours of painful questioning by Mr. Joness lawyers and Mr. Jones plays sick when it is his turn to tell the truth under oath, Alinor Sterling, one of the families' lawyers, wrote in the motion.
(snip)
In November, Bellis found Jones liable for damages, and his testimony is now being sought in a deposition ahead of a trial later this year to determine how much he should pay the families.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sandy-hook-families-seek-alex-jones-arrest-2nd-83679038
This will eventually happen with the rest of the grifters (hopefully).
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Hope, hope. Still and always sickening.
For every Jones, though, there are many others inspired by them who don't make millions and don't get away with their crimes for decades. We forget those who are broken by their crimes, if we heard of them in the first place.
What a nasty surprise it must be to learn Jones and company also reject them and that there never was going to be acclaim or other reward.
Takket
(21,421 posts)Deep State Witch
(10,350 posts)It was fun when the weather was warm. When we hit the inevitable "last gasp of winter" in the DMV, it's a lot less fun.
Torchlight
(3,232 posts)"what do I protest now since all my demands were deflated and rendered moot before I even arrived?"
BlueWavePsych
(2,634 posts)FSogol
(45,355 posts)Breaking News: Grifters head to griftier pastures!
ProfessorGAC
(64,413 posts)...11 is still a convoy.
An embarrassingly small convoy to make any point, but a convoy nonetheless.
FSogol
(45,355 posts)It probably sucked to be around Hagerstown, but didn't make a blip here.
Wounded Bear
(58,436 posts)Johonny
(20,674 posts)had little chance of success because of the most obvious reasons.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)last week to remain past the cutoff off April 7 "as they have a racetrack to run." Last week they were hoping to find a new base of operations in the area... Were going to stay here until we find a spot thats suitable for us that we can all agree on.
Apparently things back at camp really went bad at Thursday night's meeting, with police having to be called to stop a fight over various "what now" issues, morale crashing. Friday was the nationally reported attack on the motorcycle-riding veteran because he flipped the bird at some of them. And over the weekend, with temps below zero, they heard that organizers of the "Freedom Convoy" in Ottawa were being socked with additional criminal charges.
A bunch have already pulled out today.
Emile
(21,881 posts)IronLionZion
(45,250 posts)Initech
(99,909 posts)AllaN01Bear
(17,346 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing but whine and fail.