Canada 's Freedom Convoy is a message to United States
as well .
I was also confused when I saw people milling about with “2022 is 1776” signs. I’m no expert on Canadian history, but it doesn’t seem like much big things happened that year for your lot other than holding back us American lads.The (1)>>“Freedom Convoy 2022” began as a movement against a Canadian vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers, but has turned into a rallying point against public health measures in Canada. It has also gained increasing support among Republicans, including (2)>>Donald Trump. NOW the Trucker protest could spill over into the U.S. The well-organized blockade, which police say has relied partly on funding from sympathizers in the United States, is unprecedented by Canadian standards.Protesters in the downtown core "remain highly organized, well-funded, extremely committed to resisting all attempts to end the demonstration safely," he added.Some want an end to a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers while others insist (3)>>Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau be deposed on the grounds he exceeded his authority by imposing restrictions to tackle the pandemic.The issue with this protest, is that 90% of truckers are vaccinated. There is nothing that they are going to be able to do, the US has the exact same rules. This protest started in Alberta, we know that Alberta and Covid didn’t mix very well, and they are very much like our US counterpart in the way that they think. It quickly went from a trucker convoy to a freedom convoy, they want all (3.1)>>Covid rules and mandates gone, that God should be back in politics, that climate change is not real etc. etc. etc.Earlier this month, Canada began requiring any truckers arriving from the US be fully vaccinated against coronavirus. Those who are not vaccinated – who are believed to constitute less than 15% of the country’s drivers – are required to quarantine for 14 days. Canada has recorded 2.93m Covid cases and 32,600 deaths from the virus.In many way, Covid-19 has exposed the necessity of the trucking system as well as headwinds within the system, including a shortage of drivers.Some Canadian conservatives have spoken out against the mandate, arguing it places a burden on truckers when supply chains are already strained. (4)>>Some have posted pictures of empty grocery store shelves.But experts caution that the vaccine mandate is just one part of a “perfect storm” to hit the nation’s food system. Poor weather, highway closures and staffing challenges at grocery stores have also made it difficult to get food on shelves.50,000 trucks would stretch bumper to bumper from Ottawa to Winnipeg or some nonsense like that.The convoy would stretch from Parliament Hill to Sault Sainte Marie, assuming they want to go through Toronto. I've added an extra meter onto the truck length for social distancing. BUT As hard as it is to imagine, (5)>>President Biden’s political fortunes are about to get worse. The massive trucker convoy that crossed Canada to protest against that country’s new vaccine mandates will almost certainly be replicated in the U.S. and will bring with it huge headaches for the Biden White House.Biden pretends to be the champion of the “little guy”; he claims to support blue-collar workers. Truckers are exactly the kind of folks Biden is meant to embrace, but he will not do that.
NOTES AND COMMENTS:
(1)>>“Freedom Convoy 2022” .I could be wrong here, maybe I am.I keep seeing posts (with nothing to back them up) about the 2022 Freedom Convoy. Claims that there are 50,000 trucks, then most recently, 100,000 trucks. I don't know if people understand how many vehicles that is. The news articles are saying "hundreds" of truckers. How do you figure there are 100,000 trucks? Lol. Again, I could be way off base here, but I doubt there are 100,000 independently owned transport trucks in Canada. In the USA, a country with 10x our population, there are an estimated 350,000 independently owned transport trucks. So using simple math, we can assume there could be ~35,000 in Canada. Now, that leaves a 65,000 truck deficit to claims that people are making about the magnitude of this convoy. Am I to believe that there are distribution companies that are allowing their employees to just take their company trucks (65,000 of them) across the country for a joyride? Unlikely.(2)>>Donald Trump. NOW. former U.S. President Donald Trump gave a shoutout to the truckers’ convoy in Ottawa protesting COVID-19 health measures.The former president wasn’t the only Trump family member to endorse the convoy. Donald Trump Jr. also expressed his support for the convoy in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday, saying “We need to see more of this here in the U.S.” Other prominent individuals that have lent their support for the protest internationally include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, podcaster Joe Rogan and comedian Russell Brand. The drivers protesting the vaccine mandates have already been portrayed by the liberal media as right-wing zealots and science deniers, which is only one notch above climate deniers. A Facebook group organizing the U.S. convoy that had amassed 130,000 members has been tossed off the social media platform amid allegations that the movement was being promoted by right-wing extremists, which the organizers deny. (3)>>Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau attempted to paint the Freedom Convoy as a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.” He and several other members of the Liberal Party noted that the protest included members of small right-leaning political outfits like the western separatist Maverick Party and populist/nationalist People’s Party of Canada. A Nazi swastika and a Confederate flag were seen in the crowd. A statue of runner Terry Fox, a Canadian national hero, was desecrated, as were the National War Monument and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.For the most part, though, these were peaceful, ordinary Canadians. Former Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer spoke out in support of the truckers, and a few members of his party attended the protest. Mr. Scheer’s successor, Erin O’Toole, agreed to meet with truckers but then stayed away. (Conservatives ousted Mr. O’Toole as their leader on Wednesday.) The convoy also drew support south of the border. “We want those great Canadian truckers to know that we are with them all the way,” Donald Trump said at a rally. Elon Musk tweeted “Canadian truckers rule.” There’s talk of a Freedom Convoy in Australia, whose Covid restrictions are even harsher than Canada’s.As for Mr. Trudeau, one of his old tweets resurfaced last week. “While many of us are working from home,” he wrote on March 31, 2020, “there are others who aren’t able to do that—like the truck drivers who are working day and night to make sure our shelves are stocked. So when you can, please #ThankATrucker for everything they’re doing and help them however you can.”(3.1)>>Covid rules and mandates gone, that God should be back in politics. The research strongly supports the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the 14 years of consecutive decline in freedom. Not only has democracy weakened in 80 countries, but the problem is particularly acute in struggling democracies and highly repressive states—in other words, settings that already had weak safeguards against abuse of power are suffering the most.The United States has a long history of religious faith supporting and literally driving progressive causes and movements. From the abolition of slavery to women's suffrage to civil rights, religion has led the way for social change.The separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. America's social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics -- a dependence the founders recognized.(4)>>Some have posted pictures of empty grocery store shelves. It brings back memories of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when toilet paper shelves were picked clean and hand sanitizer was hard to find.So, we’re back to the question at hand―with all this food, why are our grocery store shelves empty? The answer: just-in-time inventory strategy. The good news is that empty grocery shelves we’re seeing during this COVID-19 crisis is not from lack of food and other products. The short-term shortage is due to a food distribution and inventory focused “just-in-time” strategy that aims to produce, ship and stock as few goods as possible to meet demand. By decreasing the capacity of their distribution centers, retailers save on rent, utilities and labor. Distributors save on fuel and wages. Manufacturers cut down on capital locked up in unsold inventory. (5)>>President Biden’s political fortunes are about to get worse. AS USUAL Biden will not dare stand up for the truckers. And yet, if he dismisses them as a “small fringe minority,” as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently did with the “Freedom Convoy” drivers up north, they could get mad.They could, if pushed, call for a sick-out of America’s vital truckers. Whatever supply chain problems we have had would pale before the catastrophe that could unfold if tens of thousands of drivers simply walked off the job for a day or two. Imagine what would happen to transportation costs, and inflation.The convoy protests would come at an awkward time. The public has had it with the government’s draconian (and largely ineffective) measures to combat COVID-19. Polling shows people are ready to move on.
