'People's Convoy' congested D.C. Beltway to protest pandemic restrictions, plans to return Monday

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

An armada of drivers calling themselves the “People’s Convoy” circled the Beltway for more than four hours Sunday as an act of protest against pandemic restrictions, and plan to do so again on Monday.

Organizers said their goal is to be a “huge pain.”

On Sunday, the disruption they caused was fairly minimal. Though the convoy of hundreds of trucks, cars and SUVs started out in a deliberately slow-moving formation that stretched roughly 30 miles, it became diluted after merging with normal Beltway traffic.

By the time the demonstrators completed their second loop around the District Sunday afternoon, their vehicles were far fewer in number and far more spread out. For most of their journey, traffic around them moved as usual.

But their presence could create far more chaos during a weekday, when Beltway traffic will already be thick with commuters.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/05/peoples-convoy-protest-beltway-dc-region/

[IronLionZion]

1. The only US state still having mandates is Hawaii

they should drive there immediately

[underpants]

9. 😆👆💥

[Rebl2]

11. I agree!

[Cha]

34. Really? I didn't know we're the

only state.. and we seem to be okay with that.

So wth are the truckers pissing an moaning about?

[IronLionZion]

36. They should drive over there and find out

No one else has statewide mandates. There are no federal mandates. Nothing impacts these truckers.

Maybe they're mad at high fuel prices so...they waste tons of fuel. Or they're mad at the trucker shortage so...they drive across the country in protest instead of for work.

It seems misguided

[Cha]

38. Yeah.. and they like attention for

Clogging traffic so others can't get to work.

It was stated by Canadians that the truckers there wanted to overthrow the Canadian government.. you don't suppose that's what these simpletons are after?

[wnylib]

52. I think that many of them have

that in mind. Seems, though, that world events have taken the attention spotlight away from them.

[wnylib]

51. I have no doubt that, if you told them that directly,

there would be many looking online to see which route would take them there.

[IronLionZion]

61. Nah there's fake news online

they should just roll down the windows and drive west until they get to Hawaii

[jmowreader]

65. Now, now...

I would definitely support them putting their rigs on barges and taking them to Johnston Island. They can drive up and down the closed runway alllllll day long and just soak in that blessed freedumb!

[Lasher]

2. The D.C. Beltway is always congested.

Nothing new about this.

[William Seger]

13. Yep, I was gonna ask, how will they know it's working?

[Lasher]

17. There will be a snarl at Cabin John Bridge.

AKA the American Legion Memorial Bridge.

[Lasher]

43. Double tap there, Denver.

[DENVERPOPS]

40. Maybe

the will come up on a row of National Guard Tanks elbow to elbow spanning the entire road, with hundreds of tow trucks from all over the state behind those tanks. Now wouldn't that be a sight to see.............

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. Morons

What are they protesting? Mask optional policies? In the middle of a real god-damn world crisis. The Idiocracy rolls on.

[underpants]

8. "Trump won" all of this from masks to school boards is to affirm their own blind loyalty to Trump

On poster boards and tinted windows, they complained about gas prices and vaccine mandates. Using colorful markers, they proclaimed falsehoods such as “Trump won.” Dozens of trucks waved American flags; a few sported Confederate battle flags.

And of course
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=916

[BigmanPigman]

15. They're complaining about gas prices...that's rich.

What are they doing wasting expensive gas? Morons.

[underpants]

18. They just don't get irony

The Canadians were whining about not being able to work...while not working.

The oft repeated right wing talking point - DON’T THESE PEOPLE HAVE JOBS!?!?!

[Ray Bruns]

56. The magic eight ball says "NO"

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. Super patriots shit on the US flag by thrashing it to pieces. So hypocritical. . . .nt

[sakabatou]

44. Wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.

How fitting.

[wnylib]

53. Because, of course, Jesus was American,

born in the USA.

[Nay]

62. He was white, too. Don't forget that. nt

[Jack from Charlotte]

68. Hey, wait. Wasn't Jesus also a Jew? Then ...........

how come he has a Mexican name?

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Public nuisance hindering traffic

ripe for injunction

[hermetic]

5. Hey guys,

In case any of you convoy members are reading this, I just want to tell you that your very existence is already a "huge pain" so quit wasting fuel and go back to your mommy's basement. There are people in this world right now with REAL problems and your little tantrums are starting to piss some of us off, big time.

[chia]

6. Zachary Petrizzo's (@ZTPetrizzo) Twitter updates were hilarious - few supporters on overpasses,

trucks separated by traffic, missing the second lap. Spending hundreds of dollars on fuel to own the libs...

Here's a selection of tweets:

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=HzqZEsQuni5sGLcDOf7ffw

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=HzqZEsQuni5sGLcDOf7ffw

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=HzqZEsQuni5sGLcDOf7ffw

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=HzqZEsQuni5sGLcDOf7ffw

[underpants]

7. This kid will never forget this hysterical er uh historic effort by his mother

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=916

[Ray Bruns]

57. The thing that kills me is that the people who love trump so much

are people trump wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.

[C_U_L8R]

10. They're gonna mess with Monday morning commuters.

Good luck with that. They'll be run off the road.

[heckles65]

12. Today I went to Lowe's in Essex VT

They still have a mask requirement, mandated by the town. Shall the Federal government step in and quash that? Talk about government overreach.

[Martin68]

16. Which government? The federal government lets businesses decide what rules they will enforce.

Is the Vermont Government "pulling a Florida" and suing businesses that have a mask mandate?

[paleotn]

20. Town of Essex VT is mandating masks.

Same in Rutland VT and numerous other towns and municipalities around the state. We've had a bit of a spike in cases recently, mainly among our relatively few unvaxed residents, but still a worry in a state that's weathered the Covid storm better than others due to sensible local and state government.

[Martin68]

41. So was that a sarcastic dig at "government overreach?"

If so, I agree with you.

[Martin68]

14. They'll be very popular with all the commuters who have to make that dreaded commute on the Beltway

at rush hour.

[Midnight Writer]

19. Just listened to an interview with one of the "truckers".

He said Covid has a 99.999% survival rate.

He claimed he was more likely to step outside and get killed by a bus than die of Covid.

So I guess hundreds of thousands of Americans every year get hit and killed by buses?

What got my goat was the interviewer did not correct this nonsense, and when they went back to the studio, the anchors did not correct this.

They just let this guy spew dangerous lies on their air and then moved on to the next story like nothing had happened.

This was not on a RW talk show, this was on the "newsbreak".

[paleotn]

21. Sinclair station?

Sinclair Broadcasting Group is a RW takeover of local broadcast news.

[IronLionZion]

28. We've lost almost a million Americans to buses. Deep state covers it up

Because it's mostly urban libs using buses.

[Grokenstein]

35. Don't mess with Big Transit! /s

[Farmer-Rick]

59. Tell that to the 3 million dead Americans

It's like the death of Americans is not at all important to them. Let them die but we'll stick with our stupid and dangerous illusions.

[keithbvadu2]

22. Gather some volunteers to get in front of the convoy members.

Gather some volunteers to get in front of the convoy members.

Slow them down even more.

18 wheelers do not like going 15 miles an hour.

Alternate positions so that no one driver is slowing them down.

Would they like ramming cars with their trucks on their insurance?

[hay rick]

23. Inspired by the convoy outside of Kviv no doubt.

Another protest AGAINST democracy.

[moniss]

24. Easy way

to eliminate this problem is to use the police helicopter to see which highway they are using to get on the expressway back in MD and just close the entrance ramp. Trying to wander around the northern MD countryside with large trucks and drivers who are unfamiliar with the area will bring their little convoy to a halt in short order. Better yet would be to change the road signs up in Hagerstown so that they show west bound as being the way to DC. That way they can end up over in West Virginia and they can clog up Manchinistan instead of DC.

[reACTIONary]

25. By the historic standards of DC protests...

.... this is a fall on your face flop.

[SweepPicker]

26. These clowns

don't stand a chance tomorrow if they're not used to driving the beltway. Marylander's don't have much patience for this kind of crap.

[marieo1]

27. Disgusting pieces of humanity

What a bunch of stupid idiots..........the world is recovering from Covid and already we have a madman invading Ukraine and killing so many and turning the world upside down and cross ways and these stupid self centered idiots have to make more havoc..........Why don't they go to Ukraine and volunteer to help those poor people.

[Ford_Prefect]

29. Burning diesel to show independence is so damn ironic they can't possibly get it.

It would be more so except they must be getting help with the fuel bills.

IMO if you're waving your ass in public, as a courtesy to others it should at least have entertainment value. Traffic jams on the beltway is a tradition as old as the highway itself and nearly as common as corrupt GOP members. I lived there when it opened and can speak from experience.
**************

As some noticed, the convoy is going to be forced to pay out thousands for just a day of protest. The lowest price for diesel in Hagerstown, Maryland, is $3.93 per gallon, according to GasBuddy, and the highest is $4.56. So, at an average of $4.25 per gallon and the average trip from Hagerstown to I-495, and around the Beltway and back to Hagerstown, is about 184 miles.

That means each drive from Hagerstown, a loop around the Beltway, and back to Hagerstown will cost about $120.32 each trip for one truck. If there are 100 trucks that's over $12,000 in diesel fuel. Given the disasters abroad, some are asking how many refugees fleeing Ukraine could get hot meals from the World Central Kitchen for that amount.

The truckers intend to increase the number of loops they will make each day. That means, on Monday, they will travel 248 miles for two loops. Day three will be 312 miles. By the end of the week, each truck in the convoy will be using up 440 miles in diesel, which will cost them approximately $287.69 for the trip. For just 20 trucks that's over $5,700. The convoy has raised over $1.5 million. If they count the cost for their return home, that means they're likely to run out of cash fairly quickly.

https://www.rawstory.com/truck-convoy-lost-fuel-costs/

[lonely bird]

31. Ah, yes, the Republican chestnut "Government Overeach"

Government underreach by the orange faced, anus-mouthed baboon caused thousands of Americans to die.

As is typical these asshats want government to spring full blown from the brow of Zeus when THEY want it and not before.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

32. Dont they know that govt mandates have expired in most places????? What am I

missing ? The phrase "a day late and a dollar short" comes to mind.

[wnylib]

54. Never was about mask or vaccine mandates.

It's always been about showing support for RW politics and "looking powerful," thinking they could shut the government down. It's a pitiful attempt at intimidation through the symbolic image of "laying siege" to DC.

[Dopers_Greed]

33. What exactly are they protesting?

There really aren't mandates anymore.

[riversedge]

50. I saw a tweet--one was **tching about Pelosi. They have a six pack

of whining complaints. Make it a tossed salad.

[jmowreader]

66. You know the chant...

“What do we want?” “What we got two weeks ago!”

“When do we want it?” “Uhh…I think that already happened, dude.”

[lees1975]

37. Quite a display of ignorance and stupidity

in light of the real tyranny being endured by Ukrainians.

[wnylib]

55. Driving around in circles is

A perfect metaphor for their minds and lives. Aimless and without a complete thought between them.

[ruet]

42. I Can't for the Life of Me Decipher That Headline.

I can't be the only one.

[IbogaProject]

46. Bunch of BS

They get around to this once most of the mandates are lifted. They are going to try and claim credit for the rest us us leaving them to their own fate.
Keep masking in mixed company. I'm hoping the R column is getting leaner.

[Withywindle]

47. People are dying in Ukraine, Cletus

Traffic jams ain't heroism.

[NBachers]

48. I'm a bit unclear on the concept here.

[L. Coyote]

49. Running in circles protesting vaccines with seat belts on, I'm guessing they are

uneducated in irony.

Link to tweet

[FSogol]

58. They are leaving Hagerstown at 9:30 am. Rush hour will be over before they get to DC.

Pointless clowns driving in a circle with delusions of importance.

[niyad]

60. I wonder how many road rage incidents there will be.

[Zorro]

64. It would be Open Season if this were in LA

[tonekat]

63. A bunch of impotent white males

Featuring their hurt in a meaningless way, causing more pollution, using up expensive fuel, accomplishing nothing.

Horrors, what suffering they have been caused (not!).

[zanana1]

67. They're spoiled brats.

Their country is not being bombed.

[AngryOldDem]

69. They've got the money to blow on this crap right now?

I’m sure most of the people who they’ll inconvenience don’t.

The level of idiocy in this country….

[Sapient Donkey]

70. What restrictions at this point? They are just doing this for the sake of doing it...

When there are literally no restrictions in place, they will start protesting that their reason to protest was taking away.