who wants to be a truck driver when they grow up.

[CJ]

the guy filming the truck in the youtube is none too smart. if i see that situation, i am off the freeway immediately. because if that pickup tries to pass and gets side swiped by trucker bob, then he flips and sheds debris and ends up in that guys path before he has time to stop , then we have total carnage. stuff happens fast during a freeway wreck.

 

[Tubetec]

I often wonder how modern tech might contribute to road accidents , either onboard screens and computers or mobile phones . Half a second looking in a screen could equate to half a second delay in reaction time in taking avoiding action in a potential accident situation , that could easily be the difference between life and death .

 

[CJ]

those Nascar drivers seemed to have found a way to shorten their reaction time down to non human,

used to be you could make money driving a truck. grab a jar of beans and go coast to coast in five days, rest up and do it all over again.
now there is an 8 hour driving limit, and they know when you are carrying your dog in the passenger seat with all the onboard monitoring going on.
new drivers get about 25 cents a mile to start which is a joke and the reason why there are so many jack wagons out on the road today. except the Winco drivers. because they are your supermarket low price leader. if you want to win, shop at Winco. except the produce dept.
and watch out for the electric forklift.

 

[pucho812]

I often wonder how modern tech might contribute to road accidents , either onboard screens and computers or mobile phones . Half a second looking in a screen could equate to half a second delay in reaction time in taking avoiding action in a potential accident situation , that could easily be the difference between life and death .

it accounts for plenty. Out here in sunny california, a lot of the accidents these days happen because at least one driver was looking at a screen, usually a phone. how is this for distraction, the other day driving home from the studio after an all day session the large cadalac escalade in front of me is watching a movie as they drive down the highway at 75 miles an hour/ 120 KPH. The movie itself was one of those were they get all naked and well you know. Anyway I decided to pass them and in doing so they nearly run into my lane because they were distracted. I got so angry I rolled down the window and threw my beer at them.

 

[hodad]

So the trucker protest in Canada is not the "voice of the people," as someone recently called it here, but the voice of various fake facebook groups and moneyed interests from outside Canada. It's worth noting, for those who like to pretend this is some sort of right-wing, anti-vaxx groundswell, 90% of Canadian truckers are vaxxed--which is roughly in line with the rest of Canada's population. As I said before, a handful of crybabies who've had their whining amplified by various manipulative outside forces, the oft-exploited gullibility of conservatives, and the mainstream media's love of a good picture.
Same sh!t, different country.

 

[JohnRoberts]

It looks like the Canadian snowflake in chief (sorry but he is) is getting pushback from within his own political party for his over the top mischaracterization of the truckers (the most amusing to me is his complaint about confederate flags WTF, in Canada? He also pulled swastikas from his grab bag of evil images ?).

Some Canadian provinces have already relaxed mandates. And more are expected to follow suit. This is not unlike the US where several states are well ahead of the federal government with relaxing covid mandates. It appears that Ottawa is softening to giving concessions to truckers requests.

I suspect the Biden administration has visions of waiting until the state of the union speech (mar 1) to announce victory over covid. This is reminiscent of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that was supposed to be a mission accomplished victory photo op on 9/11. The funniest political spin I heard was a legislator claiming that the Biden Administration "crushed" omicron. It appears omicron, came, peaked, and is now fading at its own time table.

I don't think George Soros is trying to destabilize Canada by funding trucker protests, in fact the liberal/progressive big tech cabal fraudulently withheld go fund me money from the truckers.

Facebook already blocked a US trucker page trying to start a similar protest here. How many here remember the farmers protest (Tractorcade 1979) when they parked thousands of farm tractors on the national mall.

It's interesting how different protests get painted by partisan spinners to serve different world views and/or agendas.

JR

 

[fazer]

Signal, GZERO Media <[email protected]>

this article talks about some 14 day mandate for truckers entering Canada to isolate and how that is one of the main complaints of the truckers.

I agree with JR that this has worked to rattle the mindset of the various MPs to maybe let off of the noose and let some things get back to normal like Denmark and other countries have recognized.

 

[cyrano]

The Canadian protest sure gets some respons in other countries. Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Spain...

Trudeau is done. This isn't a fringe minority. Can someone please turn him over before it's completely ruined?

 

[hodad]

Totally bizarre spins here. JR dredges up the anti-semitic George Soros trope for some reason (yeah, yeah, you're not anti-semitic, but the George Soros conspiracy is). 90% of Canadian truckers are vaccinated. Did I say that already? Have I told you lately to go look at Canada's covid numbers to compare to the US's, for instance? Anybody commenting on this thread besides me who's been to Canada during the pandemic and seen firsthand how well the country's handled things? Yes, people are tired of the pandemic--that has pretty much nothing to do with a small number of Canadian truckers who don't want to get their shots.

From my experience in Canada, I'd say those truckers represent the very worst of their nation. Of course, so did the 1/6 insurrectionists here in the US, but the same people who want to lionize these truck drivers (and who wants to be a truck driver when they grow up? Isn't that JR's title for this thread?) are more than happy to excuse and/or lionize the criminals from that ugly day.

 

[fazer]

Opinions vary

 

[hodad]

Opinions vary

One video that has been shared on various social media platforms was captioned to claim that it showed South Carolina truckers heading to Ottawa to join the convoy -- but it actually showed an August 2021 truck parade in support of the Special Olympics, USA Today reported. A video of honking Brazilian truckers that circulated on Facebook was from a May 2021 demonstration in support of President Jair Bolsonaro, not a demonstration in solidarity with the Canadian truckers as some captions claimed, USA Today also reported. A photo of a massive protest crowd, shared in Twitter posts in both English and Spanish as if it were from Ottawa this year, actually depicted a 1991 demonstration in Moscow against the Communist government of the Soviet Union, Reuters reported. And another photo, which has been described in Facebook posts as a group of Amish people driving to support the convoy, is a shot of Old Order Mennonites simply going to church, PolitiFact reported.

Fact check: Debunking false claims about the Canadian convoy protests

Yes, opinions do vary, and many of them are supported by lies, exaggerations, and nonsense. And I will say that this is a problem across the political spectrum--I've certainly been a victim of propaganda and misinformation, and I suspect it will happen again. It's always helpful when folks can see the misinformation for what it is, and try to re-evaluate the situation from a less fictionalized perspective than what they've been fed.

 

[JohnRoberts]

The Canadian trucker movement "had" wide popular support until they shut down the ambassador bridge causing a couple US auto plants to shut down. This economic leverage may be effective negotiating with the government but AFAIK the Canadian government has not been talking with them.

We'll see but I suspect this strategy will weaken their movement.

JR

PS: It is interesting how little it takes to sink down to name calling here. I was joking about George Soros supporting Canadian truckers but his fingerprints are all over electing the liberal/progressive prosecutors who are trying to decarcerate large US cities, that is not a conspiracy theory, his funding of their campaigns is public record.== Even trying to redefine felonies as misdemeanors can't make the rising crime trends look better. I guess they can't decriminalize murder and one of the cities with record breaking homicides is Jackson, MS. In an about face The Rev Al Sharpton, no friend to the police, has spoken out against crime in NYC asking mayor Adams to crack down so stores don't have to lock up toothpaste to prevent rampant theft.

 

[hodad]

JR

PS: It is interesting how little it takes to sink down to name calling here. I was joking about George Soros supporting Canadian truckers

The problem is that the George Soros talk quickly devolves into "globalism" (code for the Jewish International Conspiracy), and it may even spin into the Great Replacement Theory (which is both anti-semitic and stunningly stupid). Bolstering attacks on George Soros is bolstering anti-semitism--it would be nice if that weren't the case, but it's kind of where we are. As I said, I'm not calling you anti-semitic, just saying that George Soros attacks and conspiracy theories are largely rooted in anti-semitism.
(Of course, your "joke" about George Soros evades the question of who actually is contributing to the crybaby truckers, as well as who's pushing the fake facebook pages, who's amplifying their whining on a public stage, etc.)

If you want to talk about popular support: the numbers I read indicated a solid two-thirds of Canadians are not at all sympathetic with the crybaby truckers. I suspect that much of the sympathy that is there has far less to do with their anti-vax stance (since there aren't that many unvaxxed Canadians) and a lot more to do with general weariness with covid restrictions.

"I guess they can't decriminalize murder"---this line of nonsense has become almost as tiresome as climate deniers making light of "global warming" any time it's cold outside. We do have an issue with increased gun violence right now. It is not limited to one location, and it is not even limited to cities. It's possible that some of it may be do to the enormous number of guns on the streets in the US, but is anyone talking about that? And although correlation, as we know, does not imply causation, it's certainly worth looking at how the pandemic might have contributed to the rise in gun violence. And if there is a connection, how would we address it?

 

[fazer]

This whole pandemic culture is coming to an end. By April most states will end their mandates and lockdown policy. It’s a free country that hasn’t been free for awhile with different policies all setup with good intentions but conflicting results. Your blue team will pay a price for these decisions just like the red team payed in 2020. We all love are own opinion of events but it is hopeless to try and convince the other team with our own cherry-picking of YouTube and news articles from the polarized media outlets. This the brewery but unlike a neighborhood bar we’re all sitting at the same table instead of separate ones. It’s the wrong place to convince the other side of anything. But I guess that never stopped us before. It’s all Bla bla bla after awile isn’t it?

 

[hodad]

We all love are own opinion of events but it is hopeless to try and convince the other team with our own cherry-picking of YouTube and news articles from the polarized media outlets.

Yes, but it's nice when folks on both sides can at least acknowledge actual facts, and when folks on either side acknowledge or at least move on from the lies and misinformation they've been convinced to believe. When facts get ignored or denied because they don't fit with our beliefs, we've got a problem--I don't care whose side you're on.

 

[fazer]

If 30% of people in Canada support the truckers then it carries weight. 70% is from a poll that wants to slant information to their side. Right or wrong it’s significant. Crybaby truckers sound like snowflake slang on the other side. What is truth! Legacy news recently blamed inflation on the government relief checks sent to people to survive the lockdowns. Nothing mentioned about companies like Amazon giving raises and bonuses to upper management by making a bundle off the shutdown While trying to bust up union talk in their own company.
What exactly is the truth? Poles and data are always slanted for an outcome to favor something.
I see the truckers convoy as a non-union union. And it’s already had an affect on providences in Canada no matter what Ottawa or a 70% poll number says.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Everybody is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts (Moynihan ?)

JR

 

[hodad]

What is truth!

Well, 70% doesn't sound that skewed to me. Think about how many Canadians are vaxxed--well over 70%. Would you expect a lot of vaxxed people to be terribly upset about the "freedom" of a handful of truckers to go unvaccinated to the US? Canada has handled the pandemic extremely well (look at their numbers over the course of the pandemic and you'll see), but even so I'm sure many Canadians are tired of restrictions (as are lots of people in the US as well.) And I'm sure the weariness with restrictions accounts for much of the support the truckers do have.

Of course, we're approaching a natural (if not necessarily permanent) easing of restrictions anyway, as Omicron starts to fade. Huge swaths of the population will have immunity via infection, vaccine, or both. Omicron will essentially have done in the US what anti-vaxxers wouldn't--it's gotten us close to herd immunity. And that will allow regulations to be relaxed, and it will happen pretty much regardless of what loud-mouthed anti-vaxx truckers do or say. Of course, that also has very little to do with requiring vaccines for cross-border truckers. I mean seriously: how much sympathy do you think they'd be getting if covid restrictions were eased? I'd wager extremely little. (Just btw: pilots flying in & out of Canada are required to be vaxxed already. You didn't hear a peep about that, did you?)

 

[crazydoc]

Pat King, a freedom convoy organizer. He's a truck driver, but may still need some growing up. And he's wearing a seat belt - where's the freedom in that?

 

[cyrano]

AFAICT, the truck protesters are NOT anti-vax, but against mandated vaccinations.

Besides, it's time to move on. Vaccine efficiency is at a very low level and Omicron has tuned down the threat to "flu" level. We'll have to take the dwindling risk some day.

Trudeau is getting criticism from inside his own party. It is possible these are opportunist politicians not wanting to get burned down with Trudeau, but that's not how it looks to me.

It's also not what I hear from relatives in Canada.