Threat of Capital Beltway shutdown is a hoax, trucker says

[HipChick]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/capital-beltway-shutdown-all-a-ploy-trucker-says/2013/10/08/1e446572-3033-11e3-bbed-a8a60c601153_story.html


It can be hard to get attention for your agenda in a town like Washington, but Georgia trucker Earl Conlon figured out a way: take the Beltway hostage.

Conlon’s comments in a U.S. News & World Report story that he and thousands of truckers from across the country (and possibly Canada) planned to come to the nation’s capital Friday and bring traffic to a standstill on the inner loop of the Capital Beltway zinged across the Web and were picked up by outlets ranging from Fox News to the Huffington Post. The rally was dubbed “Truckers for the Constitution.”

But it is 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.

“First of all, we know it would not be right to go to D.C. to lock down the city by the Belt loop,” said Conlon, 50, a veteran truck driver who has suffered through more than his share of traffic jams. “That wouldn’t be fair to the people there.”

And Conlon is not sure that he will even make it to town Friday.

[uppityperson]

1. Uh. Huh.

[Gothmog]

2. I am not surprised

This stunt made no sense

[hootinholler]

3. Ironically a semi hauling trash overturned this morning

And shut down the beltway.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I have been on the Beltway many times

and since it's scheduled to rain the next few days (and I've been on it in the rain too), the Beltway is GUARANTEED to shut itself down just from the weather.

[HipChick]

8. Rain and Snow...I drove the Beltway for 10yrs..

automatic delays..

[bullwinkle428]

5. Ironic note - Fox News is the only organization that really got fired up

about this proposed "shutdown"! Megyn Kelly was getting all excited about the prospect on her new show last night (replacing the "dearly" departed Hannity).

[Javaman]

6. hoax, right. check...

moron.

he now plays innocent in his bait and switch to get the mouth breathing moron tea baggers to do his dirty work.

I smell a hint of panic.

[Ikonoklast]

7. The vast majority of professional drivers do not support those morons and their bigoted crap.

Both the ATA and OOIDA have gone on record calling for their membership to ignore this 'shutdown' as nothing more than a way for a couple of idiots using truck drivers in order to make a name for themselves with the Teabagger crowd, and fleece truckers for donations.

[JPZenger]

9. Much of the media still does not realize it - they are still reporting it as fact as of Wed. morning

[Archae]

10. The "Trucker slowdown" organizers are off-the-deep-end nutcases.

Meet The Conspiracy Theorist Behind This Week's Trucker Rally In D.C.

Rally Organizer Apparently Believes Obama And Bin Laden Are Somehow The Same Person

(snip)

Zeeda Andrews -- a co-organizer of the effort who made October 8 appearances on Fox News and Glenn Beck's The Blaze to promote the event -- apparently thinks that President Obama and Osama bin Laden are somehow the same person; that Obama is a secret Muslim; that the Boston bombings were a "false flag"; that the CIA murdered Buzzfeed journalist Michael Hastings; and that the Department of Homeland Security is stockpiling ammunition in order to slaughter Americans.

On her Facebook page, Andrews identifies as a fan of two 9-11 conspiracy theory movies, a documentary that postulates that the government may be secretly injecting aluminum into the atmosphere to block the sun's rays, and a film based on the lectures of British conspiracy theorist David Icke, who believes a secret race of lizard people run the world. (Radio host Peter Santilli, who has appeared in press reports as a spokesperson for the event, is also a 9-11 conspiracy theorist. Santilli made news earlier this year when he suggested Hillary Clinton should be "shot in the vagina" for treason.)

(snip)

In a comment posted to YouTube in mid-2013, Andrews encourages people to "do your research" and lays out her theory that "Osama Bin Laden is our President Obama," explaining that they "have same height, bone structure, hands and ears both are left handed":

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/09/meet-the-conspiracy-theorist-behind-this-weeks/196366

Conspiracy theorist Pete Santilli, a spokesman for Truckers Ride for the Constitution, suggested that violence against the government would be justified if his group's plan to jam the Capital Beltway that surrounds Washington, D.C., and ask members of Congress to resign fails.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/09/audio-conspiracy-theorist-radio-host-calls-for/196365