Idaho at war with truckers.
 

Idaho has declared war on the trucking industry. And I haven’t seen even one trucker fight back. Three drivers were given assignments to haul hemp through the state. They were assured by their companies that the shipments were legal. The drivers trusted their employers and ended up charged with drug trafficking, facing twenty years imprisonment. My guess is almost any driver would have taken those loads. Federal law says they’re legal but Idaho insists their laws supercede federal. In any event, it was only hemp and the drivers were guilty of nothing but trusting their employers.

Back when truckers had unions, I believe the courthouse in Boise would have been surrounded by trucks for every court appearance of the drivers. The courtroom would have been packed each time, with truckers who couldn’t fit in, picketing outside. And I like to think truckers would have pushed their companies to place a surcharge on all goods being shipped into and out of the state as payback.

Instead, the truckers have been appearing alone in the courtroom. Two of them, faced with twenty years imprisonment, pleaded guilty, even while insisting they believed hauling hemp was legal. So they could be sentenced to five years for their guilty pleas and of course, they’ll always have records. There is a Russian driver who didn’t cave from the pressure prosecutors leveled. So he’ll be going to trial, at risk of 15 years imprisonment if found guilty.

Just seems a shame truckers no longer fight for their own.

Idaho is becoming another commie leftist failed State.

We use to be a United States.
Now we are being divided and turned into waring tribes.

Warring tribes?
 

No one in Idaho would ever accuse truckers of being a warring tribe. Legislators, police, prosecutors, and judges see you as wimps to whom they can do anything they like without fear of your fighting back. They’ve seen you as a conquered people ever since your leftist union crumbled. Any other profession that was being targeted and having innocent fellow workers charged with felonies would scream bloody murder, and the justice system would back off. But you timid folk make such easy victims. You wonder why people don’t respect you. Well, come on! You don’t respect yourselves.

You know the Idaho Statesman occasionally runs stories about the innocent drivers, facing years in prison. But I’ve yet to read even so much as one protesting comment from a fellow trucker. You people are dead in the trucking world. You’d happily see fellow truckers hanged for having done no more than accept assignments from their companies, on assurance they’re legal. So don’t blame Idaho. If you don’t care, why should anyone else?

Truckers - Warring tribes? You’re funny. Come on! Go back to sucking your thumbs. That’s about all the fight from you folk, in defense of your own, we’ll ever see.

Pump yer brakes buttwipe.

Don't be coming in here pointing fingers at me or anyone else, whom you know nothing about. Who the hell do you think you are? Fugoff with your punk attitude.

I don't know anything about the story you told. I made a generalized scoff at the corrupt and broken system.

Bumped your story to the top, yer welcome.... and thanks proving my point. What tribe are you? ... huh Princess? :)

Of course you know nothing of the story. For that to be possible, you’d have to be part of a community that fights for itself. That’s how word gets around when people look out for their own. Without that kind of fight in you, you’re left with nothing but ignorance, calling men women, and thinking you’re doing me a favor by having my little piece read, as if for my sake, rather than truckers who, if they and you don’t know what’s going on, should. And you think I’m a punk for trying to drum up support for your fellow truckers facing years in prison, do you? Man! It’s even worse than I thought for you folk.

Oddly, I like you. I can see you’re funny and would probably be amusing to listen to on the CB. But you’re part of a world that’s, as you say, more focused on smelling behinds and name calling than respecting anyone, especially fellow truckers who are innocent but in great trouble. No doubt I care about them more than you and yours. And I don’t anticipate that’s going to change. I’d hoped so, as a kind of miracle. But I fear your tribe is meek, hiding in the shadows, and just doesn’t have it in you. So I’ll do my best to fight for what I consider an outrage by Idaho’s justice system against truckers, who, it appears, their fellows couldn’t care less about, including you, even after having been informed.

And by the way, Idaho is not a leftist state. It’s voted republican for decades. Oh, and if I seem angry. .. Yeah! What’s being done to those drivers is a crime. The state of Idaho knows they’re innocent. But they’ve got some sick agenda going. So what matter ruining a few lives from within a profession whose members don’t care. That makes it easy for them, doesn’t it?

We are living in a different world.

If you go to the McDonalds dressed in a Military uniform, you will have some sheitstain, spit on your food in the back, before serving it to you.

That's the world we now live in.

If you wear a MAGA hat anywhere these days, you have to watch your back.
If you are white, or Christian, or male, a conservative, etc. there are no-go zones you must be aware of.

If Hillary had become our President, there would be 50 million dead in this Country right now.

Aw! Poor you. Fellow truckers facing years in prison. And you want to feel sorry for yourself. You know, when you give up and have no ability to care about anyone, you end up fretting over 50 million people, created in a fantasy, rather than work to help real live truckers who are in big time trouble. Why should anyone respect you when you won't even lift a finger to help your own?

Here is a story of two of the drivers who prosecutors persuaded to plea guilty by threatening them with fifteen years imprisonment if they didn't. Though their load was hemp, Idaho doesn't distinguish between that and marijuana. So the judge required they confess to hauling pot even though everyone, including he, knows it was hemp.
https://www.idahopress.com/news/loca...fe0ad45b1.html

For information about the other driver of hemp who didn't plead guilty and could be sentenced to fifteen years if found guilty at his trial, run a search on
Denis Palamarchuck.

An exorcism is needed
 

The Russian driver is facing 15 years if found guilty. Knowing that, we must ask, “What kind of monsters have power in Idaho? What possesses them?” I can understand why truckers may feel terrified to attend this trial for fear the judge’s head would start spinning like Linda Blair’s in, ‘The Exorcist,’ even while mocking in a devil’s voice, “If you show any revulsion, you’ll be held in contempt.”

Yeah! This has been a real eye opener of how corrupted a justice system can become. At least the good, hard-working drivers, innocent, unlike their vile accusers, would never do me nor anyone else harm. I’ll take heart in that. There are still good people around, even if a coven of evil souls, in black robes and arrogant scoffers of all that’s good, surround Rosemary’s baby, too.

This is an American horror story we have going on in Idaho.

Gulag justice
 

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?

"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..
;)

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

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.

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.

be careful nah... :roll3: according to the Left.... old white guys are the most dangerous threat on the planet. :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Me too, just living in the past😉

I promised myself not to get into politics. But what to heck! No one seems to care about the innocent drivers anyway. Have you ever wondered why so many leaders would go along with restricting outside workers from entering the country for employment, given how they so often put business interests above all? Wouldn’t you expect cheap labor would be their desire? Here’s the answer. Politicians are like magicians. They’ve become experts at distracting you from what’s going on. And so we’ve learned not to see what’s before our eyes.

Have prices inflated due to higher paid American workers stepping in to take the place of illegal immigrants? Nope! Inflation remains low. So immigrants are still doing jobs in agriculture, construction, as maids, etc. Here’s what has changed. Foreigners entering with visas don’t have to pay into Social Security and Medicare. It was projected illegal immigrants would pay $150 Billion into Social Security over the next ten years. The journal, ‘Health Affairs,’ showed a surplus for immigrants' contributions to Medicare every year between 2002 and 2009. It found that immigrants had, over that time period, contributed $115 billion more to the Medicare program than they drew out.

Those hired in possession of visas won’t have to pay a penny toward Soc Security and Medicare. And that’s the whole idea. It has nothing to do with blocking outside workers coming in from below the border. If you watched closely, Trump has said the same. When he shut down the government over funding the wall, he spoke denouncing immigrants. But in that same speech, hidden within a sentence or two, only farmers were to hear, he assured them there would still be plenty of immigrants coming in with visas to fill their needs. And so there have been. Do they overextend their visas? Of course. There were twice as many who did so in 2017 as were caught attempting to cross the border illegally.

People with visas can still apply for all benefits illegal immigrants can. So visas aren't a fix for that, either.

Trump was offered a DACA deal that would have given him $20 Billion for a wall. He rejected it. Why? The wall is too good a talking point to have it end with success of being completely built. So how to keep democrats from getting onboard? Trump knew he must rarely if ever argue that immigrants have a detrimental effect on wages. That would risk winning support from liberal leaders. No! He had to make it all about immigrants being rapists and murderers. He knew that would cut off any chance of support from democrats. And it worked. He didn’t get his wall. And he’ll continue fighting like the Dickens not to succeed lest victory remove the issue from consideration and desired political advantage.

All the while, in the midst of such tricks, Trump covertly made certain as many immigrants from down South continue coming in as ever. And he’s not going to worry about whether they stay. For a magician, appearances trump reality.

And so truckers will flow legally into our nation from outside. They won’t much fret over what they’re paid, since the cost of living is much lower where they’re from. That’ll have an effect on your wages and your future retirements, too. But magicians at the top will turn your focus toward a wall. And that’s all you’re supposed to see.

Hey! It’s elites who hire people adept with wands. And they can afford the best. Happily for them, truckers have no one on their side to oppose them. In fact, perhaps because of Stockholm Syndrome, a majority of you have adopted the thinking of your captors. Hence you look back to the good old days when truckers still had respect and power, even while praising those making certain, such days never return.

My dad was long a factory worker who eventually became boss over thousands. I think he sometimes missed the camaraderie of fellow union members. After being superintendent for years, he remembered how in opposition to management, his union once successfully pushed for converting the factory walls to slats that could open and close, allowing cool air to flow though in summer and still heating the factory in winter. Production rose because of that union success. And there was reduced equipment failure from overheating.

People on the front lines often have insights, those more removed never realize. This nation is being run, not so much by even politicians these days as by scheming billionaires, far removed. I’d like to see that change with people like you having more influence. I know you’ve been persuaded to think yourselves incapable. But I have no doubt that if you gained increased influence, you’d see yourselves as more innovative than you’ve ever imagined possible because surrender and captivity strip away the soul. Just remember, though, once released, people return to themselves. It would be no different for you. And the world would become ever more exciting in your world as empowerment swept your way.

I confess I’m considering writing a book about the Idaho drivers. I keep hoping a cavalry will rush in to defend them. It would make for a better ending. But I’m expecting it may rather turn out a downer, instead, as if we’re now a conquered people, capable of no more than grumbling, showing disdain for each other, and dwelling in a state of apathy, rather than what I remember us once being.

When did we first transition from active participation in life to becoming talk show radio hosts, from afar, capable of no more than arrogant displays of mockery rather than talking face to face, sometimes in disagreement, even while respectful of each other?

When mutual respect was lost, I suspect, so did become we.

Mockery is easy. But respect requires much more, including sometimes acknowledging we were wrong. But that comes from growth because you don’t learn you’re wrong without research. And that keeps the brain cells alive.

Idaho is wrong. But I don’t expect mocking them from afar would help. I think the big word from Washington, these days, of, ‘intent,’ is key because we all know the drivers never had any intention of doing anything wrong. They were just doing their jobs as assigned. That they’re now facing years in prison, one, potentially, fifteen years, is not only absurd but evil.

Of course, even with research, we often read contradictory information because people lie and we’re all duped at times. That’s what’s refreshing about the story in Idaho. It’s hard to put much spin on it. There are just three drivers there, confronted by a state which defines pot and hemp as one and the same. The federal government has mandated that no state can prohibit the transport of hemp on its highways. To get around that, Idaho insists hemp is pot. So it’s not hemp they’re restricting on their roadways (even though it is) but pot. And they would insist the feds did not make transport of marijuana legal.

Consider some of the weird possibilities of calling two entirely different things the same. A state could say a kids’ sandbox and freeway are legally equivalent. That being the case, they could fine or imprison truckers for recklessly speeding across an area frequented by kids. And drivers would be forced to plead guilty to having endangered children even though they were nowhere to be found, highways not really being sandboxes.

They could say that log books and tax forms are equivalent. So if you were caught lying on your logs, you could be charged with tax fraud.

They could say all life forms are legally equivalent. So if the ISP found dead bugs on your windshield, you could be charged with murder and forced to plead, in exchange for a reduction of charges, that you’d killed a person, since Idaho prosecutors and judges always go with the most damaging version of a crime, by virtue of a law dictionary gone berserk.

Both drivers who pleaded guilty were college grads. One of them, forced to plead to transporting marijuana with intent to deliver, paused and stared at the judge as if to say, “You do realize what you’re demanding I say is nuts, right?” But the judge waited him out as if it’s been a lifetime dream to have someone, ten times brighter than he, stoop down to his level.

To bring Americans back together, we should look for opportunities to oppose bad guys on those rare occasions when it’s clear cut to most of us who the bad guys are. This is especially so when it’s the ruling powers doing evil, like in Idaho. An advantage of being in the right, you’re able to assume a superior position of lofty reason and ethics, even when opposed by prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement. That can feel pretty good.

The drivers should not be facing charges that will ruin their lives, future job prospects, and could lead to potential imprisonment for years. Everyone knows it, including most people in Idaho. Having truckers around the courthouse, speaking truth to power, is the state’s worst nightmare. I think you’re missing out on a great deal of fun that could be had for a noble cause. And if you conducted yourselves with decorum even while making powerful talking points, available to you, to members of the press who would come to hear you if you're there, it would do much to elevate the public’s perception of truckers, perhaps for decades to come.

You've got two drivers with college degrees to defend which could help present yours as a profession where bright people enjoy working. And you've a Russian speaking driver to defend, too, which makes your industry seem cosmopolitan, as it increasingly is. What an opportunity to show the country who you are, even while doing something good for yourselves, too.

Good news for the Idaho drivers today. I don't know if it'll work at changing minds of prosecutors. But it's reassuring knowing there are still some good people in Idaho who are trying. https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/...230087129.html

That hemp petition woke people up. I've often felt alone these past few months defending the drivers. Today, because of the petition, hundreds of people did so.

I just had a thought. It occurred to me, how could police officers arrest drivers who they knew were only following orders from their normally law-abiding trucking firms? After all, they more than anyone know what it's like to be accused of doing no more than what they've been trained to do.

Now here is a crazy thought that hit me. Is it possible the police became hostile to truckers after they allowed their union to disintegrate, especially long haul drivers? Consider, most police officers belong to unions. They may look upon you all as traitors, now, rather than brothers, as perhaps, before?

But I don't know why they showed so much enthusiasm for arresting the drivers. Just seems weird. They should be the last profession in this country to go after Americans for just doing their jobs because they know how it feels, being unfairly accused. Of course, when that happens, they stand up for each other, don't they? That could be another reason they feel you're much different from themselves.

If you'd like to sign a petition to have all charges dropped against the drivers, you can do so here. https://www.change.org/p/ada-county-...-truck-drivers

Don't let '0 have signed' discourage you when the page opens. Just takes a moment for the total to tally.

I’m relieved the petition is there to take off heat, I’ve imagined could be suffered. Anytime you submit a letter such as what follows, it’s easy to dread there may come a knock on the door. After all, if they’re willing to charge drivers who they know were only doing their jobs, as assigned, how can I be certain they won’t come after me, too? I’ve lost faith there is still justice in Idaho for anyone, now. It’s what happens when people, known to be innocent, are charged all the same. I understand it was probably foolish to make this comment in newspapers, various places. But I couldn’t help myself, since truth trumps hiding it under a bushel, as once said.

So I did it. By crazy impulse I submitted what follows.

"Prosecutor Scott Bandy has said for months the drivers should have done their research. What he'll never comprehend, you don’t research how to be a decent human being. You just are. That’s something the good drivers understand that he never will. You have to wonder why he wants to terrify people from entering trucking jobs, lest their knowledge of law books prove insufficient to keep themselves out of trouble. And why is he putting out a message for truckers not to trust their employers? Is he saying, if you don’t have a good scientific knowledge of what’s in hazardous waste loads you’re carrying, you shouldn’t be hauling them?

Bandy seems to be placing all of the burden of research on the drivers rather than their companies. I thought the government was attempting to mandate more rest for drivers. Scott Bandy, rather, insists they should be burning midnight oil studying law books and science journals if they don't want to be arrested. Of course, it’s not totally his fault he’s nuts. Sanity resides in places where the middle class thrives. And where it doesn’t, guys like Bandy emerge. And justice suffers for that. Keep in mind, he’s a bad guy, here, at least on this, though it’s hard to be restrictive given the seriousness of what he’s done to three good men.

“They should have done their research.” Bandy pitifully persists. That’s as funny as “Biggest Drug Bust in History!” We’ve got fruit cakes all about these days. Stop the madness!"

Again, here is the petition. https://www.change.org/p/ada-county-...-truck-drivers

Deluge the jerks by adding your names to the petition and comments that the evil they’re doing must not stand. Given your position, you may also well add, “Let my people go!”