[Jack C]

Something I find chilling, prosecutors knew the drivers were innocent, hard-working men who would never deal drugs. They used Grand Jury proceedings which are closed not only to the public but also to the accused and their attorneys. There must have been much shame that led prosecutors to keep everything in the shadows. But that’s how gulag justice has always been practiced. Hence the innocent drivers were pressured to plead guilty in the night, so to speak, with no fellows there for support.

A third driver, Palamarchuk, didn’t plead guilty and he’ll be going to trial facing 15 years if convicted.

“Intent is everything.” We’ve heard that time after time from Washington, that people aren’t guilty if they had no intention of breaking the law. Is there anyone who believes the drivers in Idaho intended to transport illegal drugs? They were simply assigned loads by their employers and trusted they were OK. Many of you have done the same with Hazardous Waste loads. Do you want Idaho to set a precedent that if there is something illegal about those loads, you could be facing twenty years in prison?

I long thought we would never deliberately charge people with serious crimes we know to be innocent. But I see, now, that was self-deception. Having read Michelle Alexander’s book, I knew better deep within. But this persecution of innocent drivers has made it hit home, a realization prosecutors too often go after innocents, for the sake of looking good on their scorecards. It’s become common practice, nationwide, and is why we’ve displaced the former Soviet Union as the ‘gulag nation’ of the world. We need a Solzhenitsyn to describe what’s been going on here. And where better to start than with what’s being done to your people, the innocent drivers in Idaho?

[TimberWolf]

"If you are white, or Christian, or male, a conservative, etc. there are no-go zones you must be aware of."

As it should be hog,
for to many years a good portion of those individuals you mentioned above have run over many hard working Americans .
The times they are a changing..

[Roadhog]

You know... there was a time, I remember ...when I use to give a crap.

[Jack C]

When it comes to injustice, some few react by saying, “This will not stand. What can I do?” Others say to themselves, “That’s not good. I hope someone does something about it.” Many feel a momentary flicker of concern and move on. Some don’t care, even for a moment. But then there is a special group who not only don’t care but use their time to write and announce the fact, hoping to win new converts to their oblivious group. And it appears to me, in the trucking world, the latter category is winning out, at least at persuading others to be dismissive of any injustice done to workers of their trade.

Truckers are a special breed unto themselves for that. I have no doubt members of most professions, from self-respect, would fight back if good, hard-working associates were targeted unfairly by the government or law, especially if any were facing years in prison for only doing their jobs. Journalists certainly would. Police officers do so regularly. Business people and farmers do. Teachers as well. But while it wasn’t always so, I think you’re right about truckers being more timid than most and your implicit suggestion that’s at the root of their lack of concern may well be accurate, too. After all, even drivers in the state of Idaho have been quiet. There is just no fight in truckers. I think you nailed it.

A problem with fear is that suddenly the world, outside truck and home, becomes a no-go zone. And you end up creating a fantasy world to take its place. Plenty of sources for that. So real live truckers, under assault, simply fade into oblivion. That seems to be the state of things, today.

[Jack C]

Robin Williams once said, “When in Russia, it’s important to understand this phrase, “почему я арестован?” . . . “Why am I under arrest?”

I wonder if the driver from Russia, arrested for hauling hemp, (which the ISP described as their biggest drug bust in Idaho history) was thinking of William's joke when he first realized Idaho and Russia were one and the same.

Though it was hemp and proved so by extensive testing, it will be described as marijuana at his trial. I don't think even Russia would engage in anything as crazed as that, even back in Stalin's time.

As I say, any other group would join together and force an end to the madness. So they picked the right target.

[Roadhog]

be careful nah... according to the Left.... old white guys are the most dangerous threat on the planet.

[Jack C]

I hope that’s not just wishful thinking by liberals because if they’re right, Idaho is in for it. Nothing wrong with being dangerous just so long as it's constructively rather than destructively directed by effective, nonviolent means.

Don't take my word for this because I don't know. But I think it may be legal to protest with weapons in Idaho. If you do, just be sure not to fire any of them or it could ruin everything. Unions in the early part of the 20th Century sometimes made that mistake and it set them back decades. The public always turns against any group that uses violence against our own, whoever our own may be.

Protestors and signs, alone, often work wonders.

[Jack C]

I would think something truckers should do is hire a spokesperson along with some lobbyists to represent them. Your reps could also coordinate with companies to persuade their allowing extra time on routes headed through towns like Boise when protest activities are needed in defense of truckers. Considering there are 3.5 million of you, at a dollar a month, each, that would would allow for all that and more, I would think.

Back when you had a union, your spokespeople sometimes got air time on Sunday morning news shows, along with local TV news programs, too. I don't see why the same wouldn't be possible even when you don't have a union, so long as you point out that person represents you.

We need spokespeople for blue collar workers again. Today is Sunday and you watch. Not a single person being interviewed on any of the morning news shows will have a blue collar history. I'm old enough to remember when that wasn't always so.

[Jack C]

Upon further consideration, even if allowed, I don’t think you’d want to ever have weapons associated with protests related to the trucking industry. That would not enhance your reputation. It would do the opposite for at least half the country and perhaps half of your own, too. Plus it would only take one lunatic in your midst to destroy your efforts. Why ever risk that?

Even though impossible, your attempts should always be to win over everyone, including those of all political persuasions? Just because Idaho is a very conservative state doesn’t mean you wouldn’t want to obtain support from liberals, there, too. In fact, if anything, liberals would be more likely to support your efforts in defense of the drivers. So protesting with guns would not be playing it smart at all. My mistake to have considered it even for a moment.

Just to be clear, though, people on the streets in Idaho may be silent, in need of someone to wake them up. But I have no doubt democrats and republicans, alike, there, would oppose the justice system and legislators on this if there was anyone openly speaking out on the drivers’ behalf. I wonder, that their lawyers haven’t done so, may speak to their competence. That’s another thing protests by the trucking industry may have achieved. Some of the best lawyers in the country may have wished to defend the drivers pro bono to enhance their reputations if it became a bigger story by virtue of protests. But since truckers were oblivious of how truckers were treated, they weren’t inspired to come to their aid, either.

[Jack C]

When workers connect with each other, they can often have effect of making pay levels rise. Sit back, become lost in your dreams, and next thing you know your field becomes inundated with foreign workers willing to work cheap and whoops! You’ve got wage competition from below. I understand foreign hires of truckers are now at about 20% and rising. https://www.fleetowner.com/driver-ma...-talk-about-it

So you might want to study the agricultural industry for a better appreciation of where your industry is headed, assuming, of course, you continue to offer no resistance. I have to laugh. I’ll bet many of you are fretting over a wall, even while not noticing that visas are what’s behind your industry’s invasion.

Young people are no longer wishing to be part of the trucking industry. That's partly why a move to foreign workers. How to recruit young American truckers, instead? Become a community that cares about each other. That's what young people like to see. Rather make grumbling and nay-saying your pastime, they run.

I've noticed many truckers are talented writers with a good sense of logic. I suspect the job appeals to people who enjoy meditating. But I sense the career, itself, holds no direct connection nor interest to most and so the mind goes elsewhere to places and people far away.

Too bad because even if you can't go to Idaho, if you deluged the state with letters, who knows? Good writers, you are, it could help.

Yesterday, Governor Little pardoned two successful, Idahoans of marijuana crimes they were convicted of thirty years ago. This was my comment under the article. Sadly it stands alone even now.

"Presumably, these were drugs they sold that got people high rather than just hemp that doesn’t. So I hope the three drivers of hemp, assigned their loads with assurance by employers, they were legal, are immediately pardoned if convicted of anything. As a lover of justice, I would appreciate being on the jury when the good drivers sue the bad guys. But as a taxpayer, I’d like to keep damages down by avoiding any conviction records or jail time of three fine men, who never did, nor wished to do Idaho any harm, unlike Idaho which hasn't been so fine and good in return.

I would recommend our justice system study the drivers to try to learn how to be decent and more like them. We need instruction to improve. And who better to provide that than the drivers who have always worked hard and tried to live good lives without hurting anyone? If we could but model off them, I believe our justice system could prevent itself from going over the edge.

Justice is supposed to be blind. Now I’ve read that means all should be treated the same. We’re told, for elites who inadvertently slip up, an important consideration of whether charges be filed is whether it was their intent to do anything wrong. It's actually been a common refrain from above these past couple years. So if justice be blind, that’s how it’s supposed to work for everyone. Not so with the truckers who we all know never had any intention of doing wrong. They’ve lived good lives. Let them get back to them without further harm."

You could also write much the same on the drivers' behalf. Wish you would. You could inundate the state with your letters and work on your companies to do something in opposition, too, as if your industry feels itself under assault in Idaho, which it is.