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Convoy is the song Homer Simpson sings into Bart's radio microphone:

https://youtu.be/4OfUxLtI7BI

I've hated it ever since

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Jared in his spanking fresh little cowboy outfit paints quite a picture.

Let’s see, conservatives are now four square behind Russia, Hungary, and Canadian truckers. Remind me again why right-wingers are supposed to be the True American Patriots.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Chaw? Crap beer?

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They said so?

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

"Northbound and down, loaded up and coup-in/We're gonna do what they say can't be done. . . "

(Different show, I know, but same idea)

What exactly would stop say the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces from firing on those attempting a hostile border incursion? Because that's what this would be.

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Same thing that stopped 'em here. They basically sympathize with white dudes throwing off the yoke of equality, and don't want to risk their lives. I'm not gonna be surprised if some of the American ratfuckers are packing.

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The violence that cops are willing to visit on protesters is in inverse proportion to the likelihood that the protesters themselves might get violent. Any group loudly chanting their commitment to Ghandian nonviolence is going to get The Maximum Treatment, White Guys with Guns get the hands-off approach.

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Steve's Theorem. You read it here first (as far as I know).

Now for the proof – should only take a few more centuries...

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So, t's like countries with nukes vs, countries without nukes

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Twenty years ago I was in Quebec City for a Free Trade Area of the Americas protest, trying to re-enact The Battle for Seattle, and what I did NOT see was Canadian police and military throwing up their hands and saying, "No choice but to let 'em have the city, we're powerless to do otherwise, eh?"

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I believe similar was true for First Nations protests of oil pipelines

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Who ever could have imagined that so much crappy American pop culture would flow from one supremely crappy song? Or that C.W. McCall would go on to milk that formula for two more singles that charted?

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author

Ha! I looked at a list of his other releases, including "Kidnap America" and "Crispy Critters," and I'd say I got some listenin' to do! They sounds like fun!

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Can't be bothered to check, but what was the original Convoy protesting? High gas prices? Carter's deregulation of the trucking industry?

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Tolls and weigh stations.

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Seriously? TOLLS? Wow, they deserve a place in history alongside Rosa Parks and the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto.

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In the early to mid 1970s, there was a national backlash against tolls. Many of the toll roads and toll bridges had initially been presented to the public as "the toll is only gonna be here until the [road/bridge] is paid for, and then it will go away." Since most of these things had been built in the 1950s and early '60s under Eisenhower, people figured 20 or 30 years should be enough to have paid for the damn bridge and then some.

In some places (like Roy's native Connecticut), there was a 10-cent toll every 15 miles or so along I-95. When I moved there in 1984, the toll booths had just been taken down. But my co-workers had plenty of tales to tell about getting stuck in 40-mile morning traffic jams as tens of thousands of people tried to drive from southwestern CT to New York for work every morning. Each and every car had to come to a complete stop to drop a dime in the basket or had the toll booth attendant some other denomination and wait for change.

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and "swindle sheets" which were used to log the hours truckers drove and ensure that they got sufficient rest while driving

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The movie Convoy...doesn't suck.

Pauline Kael was pretty right about it. Her descriptions of Ali MacGraw are hilarious.

https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/convoy-1978-review-pauline-kael/

We recieve 10 trucks a day this time of year. Most of them seem to be driven by some guy named Ivan who looks like he may have a brother running a Hostel outside of Bucharest.

Trucker and heavy equipment operators are the most macho jobs you can have with a beer gut.

Funny stuff Roy -

Thanks!

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

That was so...fun... that I saved the link, filed under 'ultramoroons'

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I love how the big Jesus Saves preacher-trucker looks like Judd Hirsch (or maybe Jack Palance, or Liberace).

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liberace sprang immediately to mind. i was ready for a big twist in the story.

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"big twist' is a euphemism with which I was not previously familiar...

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I loved how the final, crushing argument in favor of "Jesus ain't no sissy" is that he's going to send people straight to Hell if they don't accept him as their savior. What an Alpha Male!

Also, "Turn the other cheek" only applies to God-men, regl'ar guys can just ignore it, unless they're sissies.

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I unironically love the waitress's double take when she sees the three guys at the table.

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Feb 9, 2022·edited Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

"Trucker and heavy equipment operators are the most macho jobs you can have with a beer gut."

I don't know about truck drivers, but my experience with HE operators is they are having more fun than everyone else put together.

Edited (I need to stop posting so early – 'early' defined as 'under-coffee'd) to add:

There's a story I could tell about my planned testimony at a board of supervisors hearing that was delayed by my innocently first stopping by a ranch I managed, and finding the rancher and a mechanic trying to fix a pump on the backhoe, that eventually led to me, dressed formal (ok , pressed jeans and a cheap jacket, it being California) lying underneath said backhoe when the hydraulic line broke, covering me with fluid.

The supervisors hearing was a little more fun as a result...let's say I made a splash...

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I have a kubota tractor with a loader and backhoe I love more than my wife (and Jesus too!)

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I reserve that level of love for my bicycles...

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Hearted for link to Kael, just for this line: "She is a truly terrible actress, of the nostril school."

Kael is nothing to sneeze at, I guess...

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author

I love "Convoy." Seen it five times. It's practically abstract art in places. And Peckipah had 45-60 more minutes he wanted to stick on it!

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

The Supply Chain Fuckers is exactly the Republican look the Democrats need for this November. The ads write themselves. “While you were searching all over town for batteries for your four year old’s respirator, Ron Johnson was cheering on radicals blocking highways [insert footage of semis with ‘Trump 2020’ flags vs. gasping blond tyke and her frantic mother].”

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Feb 9, 2022·edited Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

"We shut 'er DOWN in 22, but them dang Democrap DRONES outflanked us! We gotta step up in 24! NUKE-ular drones, man! And frickin' lasers!"

Edited to add:

• who knew these he/she-men secretly got the hots for theatricality and posing

• FJ Biden should step up – bring in the heavy hitters in transport industries to the table and say "We're gonna send a thousand vaxed truckers and their rigs to Canada and move all their stuff – we'll secure the vote of every Canadian!"

Edited again (when am I ever gonna learn?)

That southronifrication of language spreadin' 'cross this great big ol' land of our'n is a thing of wonder...

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Yes! Please forward to the Wisconsin Democratic Party, before they base their ENTIRE campaign on "Ron Johnson didn't keep his promise to retire" because some focus group of a half-dozen swing voters told them that was the most effective line of attack.

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I send missives to the Party with suggestions. I'm working right now on the idea of listing ten bad things about Johnson (and other Republican candidates) and poll Dems, asking them to check the two that matter most to them. Then group the results by district and craft voter outreach that speaks more directly to those two concerns.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

"Convoys to the north of me/caravans to the south/here I am/stuck in the middle with you. . . "

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That's Stealers Wheel, so not a convoy

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Well your convoy's not gonna get very far without wheels, stolen or otherwise. On the other hand, the one in Canada's just sitting there, so maybe a bunch of rusted-out Peterbilts and Kenworths up on blocks is the better metaphor for Trumpism Triumphant.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

For the 90th time: I hope that someday, someone stages an evening of theater with these scenes. I will fly from anywhere on the planet and pay any price to see it.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Roy don't take no bitcoin...

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

The care and attention that Roy gives to wardrobe demands this.

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I'll succumb happily on the day Roy's designs drape the frames of the swingin-est models on the Paris runway...Make It So! (but wait a few decades please - I've made a million mistakes in my life, and I hope to live long enough to make a million more)

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Never heard of Von Dutch with the chutzpah to sell a trucker hat for 89 bucks and apparently get away with it.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Omg. I think those images are seared into my brain. Lol

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author

Well, that's always the danger with High Art.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Yes, you've given us so much over the years. And "Fuckface" in brand new cowboy gear (including jangling spurs!) is *chef's kiss*

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Jared in a cowboy suit suggests the horrifying possibility that there's a whole YMCA-style version of the Trump family somewhere.

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

You have not lived, unless you were at the Jan 6 revelries and heard the intermission soundtrack, including the K-Tel version of 'YMCA'. I can attest that the crowd was strangely unmoved...

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Feb 9, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso

Jared as the ultimate Rhinestone Cowboy. Perfect.

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i think i may remember him appearing in devo's whip it vid.

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oh dear god i started to laugh at the first line, and never quit until the last one.

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Ha ha ha (blecchh)... sorry, too many 70s buttons pushed.

Aw but it makes me wonder, who is minding all the 70s-nostalgia buttons. The semi-seniors among us are all too vulnerable at this ghastly time.

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Only thing, I can't imagine Trump saying, "Mercy sakes." Maybe in a hard prison situation. Under extreme duress. He was not born to be the geek.

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