Profile For Steven E.

I've now read a bit about this whole fracas, which has been going on for awhile now. Predictably, the union president tried to fan the flames of class envy. I found this:

"....[T]he Teamsters struck against 23 LTL carriers in 1994....Most of those 23 LTL carriers aren’t in business anymore, and the non-unionized firms that dominate the market now intend to stay non-union, viewing the experiences of the unionized LTL carriers as cautionary tales.

"The trucking industry has moved on from the Teamsters-dominated 1970s, when federal-government prohibitions on competition between firms meant the Teamsters could ask for just about anything they wanted. A minor win for the Teamsters at non-union carrier XPO was reversed...when XPO employees near Miami voted to decertify the Teamsters after only two years of representation. Their last stronghold is UPS...."

Some comments:

"I fully expect UPS to die before the decade's out. Business contacts in shipping departments have been complaining for over a decade about the damaged package rate skyrocketing."

This is significant since a lot of the people whose jobs are union-protected are not drivers but front-counter workers who don't particularly care whether delivery trucks have air-conditioning.

"UPS is an interesting example of a company that will eventually fail partly because of the union and the hindrance it brings to investment. Who would make investments to expand your footprint when there is a union ready to hold you hostage?"

As with any publicly-traded company, UPS's first responsibility is to its shareholders.

I am quite sure there's a lot more to this story than your post covers. I will only say, I have no sympathy whatever for unions in general and the Teamsters in particular, for many reasons - not least of which is the damage they have done to a great many industries. This is to say nothing of public-sector unions - they have no business being in existence.

You and several other posters here seem simply to be bubbling over with class envy.

I am curious:

What kind of license is required to drive an ultra-class truck such as a Caterpillar 797F?

Unfortunately, most people who use the term " fascist" have no idea what the word means or what it was originally intended to describe, and simply use it as an epithet for someone they either don't like or whose p9licies they disagree with (usually the former). It is one more example of the degradation of language, on a par with "neocon," "racist," "sexual harassment," etc. But, there really is such a thing as "fascism," and throwing the word carelessly around makes talking about it unnecessarily difficult.

Facsism🤔 LOL! A few years ago every alarmist in the country was accusing Trump of Fascism. Now Biden is a facsist. Politics are confusing. Makes my head hurt trying to keep up with who we are told to view as the boogeyman. Wait a few years. We will have our latest "fascist" leader by then.

Yep. Hard to keep track of whether we are at war with Eurasia or Eastasia.

I found this an interesting question so I did a couple of lookups.

Virtually every state that experiences significant snowfall during winter season maintains a fleet of snowplows to keep roads clear, particularly highways and major arteries.

The condition right now is is, a shortage of snowplow drivers in several areas. The pay isn't very good and the job involves driving in sometimes hazardous conditions.

The best plan is, to check ahead for road conditions where you need to go and drive accordingly.

Also, know the laws regarding passing snowplows. Doing so is against the law in some states, in others not.

I'm not wearing a face diaper, nor am I getting stuck.

Neither one does anything to prevent either infection or transmission.

Https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/colorado_da_celebrates_with_grotesque_trophy_after_trucker_whose_brakes_failed_sentenced_to_110_years_in_prison.html

I found this article interesting.

I was addressing the legal issues involved and the way the story has taken shape, especially this past week.

Steven E wrote:

How is unsafe operation of an 80k CMV, and the ensuing carnage not about trucking?

It is. But, judging by the 12 pages of comments posted on this subject, those aspects were dealt with so it stopped being about trucking some time ago.

This is no longer about trucking. I do not want or intend to abuse the authority Brett has given me to ban Chris.

The best way to quiet Chris is to remove his platform. Stop replying to him. And he will move on.

Actually it has never been about trucking - and if so only peripherally. It seems to me so far there are two questions:

1. What was the driver's state of mind at the time of the accident?

2. Are Colorado's mandatory sentencing guidelines too harsh?

The first question is important because, if it was not in his mind to kill anyone he is not guilty of "murder" - at least not first-degree murder. In the Torah, for example, the distinction is drawn between "killing at unawares" and killing with the specific intent of taking a person's life. Our legal system has something very similar in the different types of crimes involved when someone loses his life at someone else's hands - first-degree or second-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, criminally negilgent homicide, etc. Interesting, this driver was not convicted of murder but of assault and attempted assault.

From what I have gathered, a lot of what led to the petitions on behalf of the driver was, unhappiness with the mandatory sentencing guidelines in Colorado. I will be interested in what happens from here.