Yes, it's another Doofus - two of them, in fact - in rapid succession to yesterday's one.
Today's first award goes to journalist, bureaucrat, analyst and unsuccessful politician Juliette Kayyem. Yesterday she tweeted about the truck blockade by Canadian drivers:
I hate to have to break this to Ms. Kayyem, but how does she expect the trucks to be moved when they have no fuel, slashed tires, and no drivers? And if she makes sure the trucker-protesters can no longer work in the transport industry, who does she expect to take their place behind the wheel? It's not like we have a surplus of drivers - in fact, we're staring at a six-figure shortage of drivers in the USA in the not too distant future!
(As for slashing the tires, I want to stand by - at a safe distance - and watch her as she demonstrates how to do that. Have you seen what happens when a fully inflated big-rig tire lets go? I have. She'll be lucky if her body is still intact and in one piece when the coroner loads it onto a stretcher . . . )
I'm going to give another Doofus award to the Premier of Canada's Ontario province, Doug Ford. Yesterday he obtained a (Canadian) court order freezing the distribution of funds from the GiveSendGo fundraiser to the truckers. Unfortunately for him, GiveSendGo is not a Canadian company, and a Canadian court has zilch, zero, bupkis jurisdiction over it - as the organization was quick to point out:
Even if the Canadian police wanted to move all those big rigs, it's a lot more difficult than it appears. As a knowledgeable commenter on this blog said yesterday:
Towing a Big Rig is an expensive job. Typically it is a minimum $1000 for a quick, simple, short distance tow. Plus, you can't tow a big rig backwards any distance. On those city streets, just turning a Prime Mover towtruck around without the use of a clear intersection may not be possible, due to their wheelbase length and corresponding turning radius.
Those size towtrucks are not common, as they are very expensive to build and operate. They can cost $500k-750k.
The brakes are air controlled, and without air pressure, each wheel pair has springs that lock the brakes, requiring each one to be manually caged to allow them to roll. Cutting the air hoses is a quick job. Time consuming to just get the truck ready to move in this case.
Cutting the tire stems so the tires are flat REALLY adds time to the attempt to move the truck, as the wheels have to be removed and the tires taken off the rims to access the stems for replacement. Flattening all the tires on a fully loaded rig MAY destroy the tire carcass as the rim may damage it from folding.
If the truck is empty, it MAY be possible to move it with a medium duty tow truck, but if loaded, nope.
The outrage and frustration of the progressive left over the trucking protest is balm to my soul. After all, they're the ones who were chuntering on over the past couple of years about BLM and Antifa riots being nothing more than "peaceful protests", and accusing those of us who opposed them of being racists. It's rather satisfying to see an absolutely, undeniably peaceful protest drawing forth such vitriol and pants-wetting angst from them.
As an Australian blog noted yesterday, "Truckers are winning with patriotic peace, goodwill, and some help from ex-Military and Police Intelligence". Sounds good to me!
Peter
Whoever is coordinating this Canadian Convoy protest really knows their stuff in causing the maximum amount of logical chaos as the Borders closing is done in different stages and not all at once. Rerouting the shipments to another border crossing that then is suddenly closed as well after a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteIt's similar to tactics in taking out first responders in a bombing where additional explosives are set especially for this purpose causing maximum chaos.
They really should make "I, Pencil" required reading
ReplyDeleteMs Kayyem presents like one of those intellectual giants who tut-tut hunters for “killing Bambi” when meat is readily available at one’s local grocery store.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteI was highly amused to see how many people posted the AOC tweet about protests being supposed to make people uncomfortable in response to the Hahvahd prof's bloviating
ReplyDeleteShe didn't like it.
As far as I can tell she's totally ignored everyone who pointed out the other problems with her "cunning plan" TM
Yet another reporter who doesn't understand the subject they are reporting on, and who has clearly made no attempt to understand it.
ReplyDeleteI noted on another website that Canadian truckers are 90% vaccinated; this protest are about far more than vaccination status.
Fortunately, Canada hasn't taken the steps that NZ is against protestors, though in this case, I don't think they could - this protest is too big.
Last I heard, big tow trucks that can handle semis were running $900k to $1.4 M - and don't forget that every year, some are totalled because towing and recovering big rigs is a dangerous job that requires lots of time, space, and patience.
A comment on tire pressure in big rigs... 100psi is the low end, 120 and even 140 are normal, depending on the load. When truck tires are inflated after mounting a new tire, this happens with the wheel chained inside a safety cage because when those big tires "pop" things that are nearby tend to be mauled... not that I've ever seen such things happen. I only have an uncle who runs a trucking company...
ReplyDeleteMs. Kayyem is confused about what kind of actions the current leadership is legally allowed to take. She seems oblivious to the fact that the protests started because of equally illegitimate actions taken by authorities under the excuse of the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteThese protests are not against the country, the nation, but against the illegitimate government and the sordid people who populate it.
She needs to watch her step and her mouth, because one could logically conclude that she is fomenting civil unrest and conspiring to relieve citizens of their rights. I look forward to when the next administration puts people like her on trial.
Welcome to 4GW.
ReplyDeleteOh, and police there attempt enforcement?
Ever seen an entire police shift try to get out of the parking lot after some construction equipment gets left in front of the driveways?
Suddenly, no cops anywhere, except on foot.
Best wishes with escalation in that scenario.
TPTB think they're going to get rough?
Ever see a load of concrete or two dumped on RR tracks and switches?
That's a days-long shutdown, and it gets more permanent every passing minute, by itself.
Good luck getting fingerprints and ballistics off of a concrete pour.
The next day, they start parking on RR crossings, and in front of bus yards too. Then highway choke points (interchanges and passes).
Now everyone's staying home, and 80% of them are pro-trucker to boot.
Turdoo's options are rapidly becoming resign, or surrender to their demands. There is no third option, and he's just been removed from office, whether he knows it or not.
Be a shame to see Bill Gates railway messed up. Bring along some chain-link fencing to stomp into the wet concrete.
ReplyDeletehttps://infogalactic.com/info/Canadian_National_Railway
Bill Gates (14.4%)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation(2.14%)
If you really want to make it fun to tow off a big rig just open the hitch and drive forward a bit.
Only takes a couple minutes to pop out the engine control computer.
Once the valve stems are cut it is easy to destroy the wheels and tires with a drill or angle grinder.
I seem to recall a couple of weeks ago, at least in Western Canada, that the towing companies with the heavy tow rigs flat out refused to tow the protester's trucks. I can just imagine what kind of mess some army corporals and privates led by butter bars would make of trying to have the military "Move the Trucks" as has been suggested in some quarters.
ReplyDeleteP.S for a glimpse of what it takes to tow big rigs in the Canadian winter checkout "Heavy Rescue 401" and "highway thru Hell" on the Weather Channel.
Juliette Kayyem.
ReplyDeleteAll that five-star education and still a foolish unicorn chaser. First generation offspring of Lebanese immigrants, she should not be qualified to hold office anywhere in the United States. I'm told the general rule is at least four generations before you have become Americanized enough to have washed away all those foreign concepts about how to run a country. Unfortunately, this first generation immigrant has already held many important positions in the United States government and without a doubt, has caused much trouble and grief. She, and other simpletons like her, are a major reason America is spiraling into third wolrd status.
With all of the supply lines clogged in Ottawa how are the citizens reacting to the stores and markets not being resupplied?
ReplyDeleteI don’t know much about weapons of compliance, but I’ve been thinking about measures the authorities might take to try to shut down the trucker protests and blockades, and defensive measures that the truckers could take. There are various means of nonlethal crowd control such as tear gas, sound lasers, water cannons, rubber bullets, etc. Which ones the police or military would use would probably depend on whether it was downtown like Ottawa or a bridge like the Ambassador Bridge.
ReplyDeleteNonlethal weapons wouldn’t directly get rid of the big rigs, but it could make it extremely unpleasant for the truckers. How likely is it that nonlethal weapons will be deployed? How effective or ineffective would they be? What defensive measures the truckers could take if they are deployed?
I think it's interesting that the "news" isn't reporting on GiveSendGo laughing at the Canadian Court Order.
ReplyDeleteThey're all reporting on the fact that there is a court order to "freeze" the funds, but only a very few have mentioned that GiveSendGo basically said "too bad, so sad" to the Canadian Court as they are a US-based company.
I'm waiting to see a US court enforcing the Canadian Court's order.