Christmas Greetings, exhortations, upcoming content, and Gratitude
An extremely busy time of year, and for now I have to duck out.
It’s that time of year again, when moving through the darkness of winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, thoughts turn to festivities of light, families organize for get togethers and feasts, and the faithful anticipate celebrations of the birth of their Savior. A notably and understandably busy time.
Here at Autonomous Truck(er)s and The Voice Of GO(r)D podcast, I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a belated Happy Hanukkah, give you some teasers on a few projects that I’m working on, and announce various upcoming guests to my show. There probably won’t be any posting here until next week, with the possible exception of some analysis of the policies being announced, and questions being answered, by Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at a Truckers Summit he is attending tomorrow night in Iowa. Click below for more information on that -
Soon to be released appearances on the Voice Of GO(r)D podcast that are recorded and awaiting editing and release -
- Mr Chris Thomas, aka Indietrucker
A real Kentucky Gentleman, and one of the best Owner Operators in the business, Chris joined the show to share his trucking career story, wisdom, and his excellent attitude towards the industry and life on the road with us.
- Mr Aaren Jackson
Aaren is an old friend of mine; the two of us spent our teenage years in the same town, went to high school together, both of us come from trucking families, and have long careers in the business. Aaren now lives on Vancouver Island, and shares with us what trucking life is like on the Island, and in B.C. more generally. If mountains and that silly TV show ‘Highway Through Hell’ are your bag, you don’t want to miss this.
- Mr
Nathan joins the show to discuss the nexus of faith, meaning, and work, which he has written on extensively for Christianity Today, Front Porch Republic, and at his own fantastic Substack, The Blue Scholar. We also discuss his stock in trade, plumbing, and engage in some excessive FanBoydom of Matthew B. Crawford.
- Mr Harold Jonker
Harold Jonker is a trucker and manager at his family operated trucking company in Smithville, Ontario, Jonker Trucking. Harold and a bunch of his boys took part in The Freedom Convoy, and after Harold appeared in the excellent Convoy documentary film, “Unacceptable Views”, was slapped with various bogus charges stemming from his participation in the Convoy, nearly a year after the fact. Harold and I discuss all of the issues around Freedom Convoy, Trudeau’s Covid Regime, and what we have to do to heal Canada of the wounds inflicted on it by these forces.
Guests booked to appear on the show in January include Professor Steve Viscelli of the University of Pennsylvania, where we will discuss his fantastic 2016 book, The Big Rig - Trucking and The Decline of The American Dream and other research he has conducted on the industry. Another great industry researcher has also agreed to join the show, Professor Stephen Burks of the University of Minnesota-Morris, whose innumerable papers on the economics of the trucking business stretch back three decades.
And a man that I am really looking forward to having on Voice Of GO(r)D is this absolute unit right here, just in time for the second anniversary of the Freedom Convoy -
Speaking of research papers and January, I’ve been very busy working on a commissioned essay for a D.C. based Think-Tank, who shall remain nameless for now, on the long running and very fake truck driver shortage narrative. Expect this to be one of the most thorough debunkings on that lie you will ever read, which will include how that lie has affected so many other areas of the industry, and is being used to sell Autonomous Trucks to a public not exactly comfortable with their potential presence on our roads.
Another writing project I am just wrapping up here will be released on this Substack next week; it is more or less complete, but for reasons that will be revealed on release, I cannot let it fly right now - I kind of enjoy not being in jail.
I want to thank all of you for reading and listening to my content; this Substack is over a year old now, and the podcast turns one next month. It can’t be overstated how much your time and attention to what I do here is appreciated.
One last thing - I want everyone to have a Merry and Joyful Christmas with all of your friends and family next week, and while you are enjoying it, keep those folks in mind who are either still out on the road over the holidays, or perhaps on a cargo ship in the ocean, or are otherwise working while we enjoy ourselves.
Another group of people we should keep in mind for Christmas are the Coutts 4 - today marks 675 days since becoming political prisoners of the venal and vindictive regime of the despotic Justin Trudeau, and this will be the second Christmas that they and there families have been separated to satisfy the narcissism of the Prime Minister. May they be released sooner rather than later, and may the long running nightmare of this regime come to an end as soon as possible. Canada and Canadians deserve so much better.
Great interview with Meghan Murphy on the Convoy and the Coutts Four!
Merry Christmas to you Gord, but it won't be a Merry Christmas for the Coutts Four as they spend their second Christmas behind bars. Everyone was hopeful that Chris Carbert, at the very least, might be with his family for Christmas, but no his bail hearing has been adjourned until January 8th, what utter garbage. Meanwhile Granny Mackay had a launch a pressure campaign for Tony because he was being held in isolation at the Lethbridge remand centre for some18 days after their December 11th court appearance. I guess it worked, he was returned to Medicine Hat. There were no media at Chris's bail hearing. Only Mocha Berzigan. Last week on True North Media, Andrew Lawton had an 'ask me anything' session on his show, and one of the questions was why True North wasn't covering the Coutts Four. He gave a very long bullshit answer, about not having the staff to cover the trial--well there hasn't been a trial yet, so that was nonsense. As well as some other excuses about why they weren't granted bail and oh the publication ban and so on. But it just seemed strange, his whole demeanor changed when answering this question. I just wonder if there is some real taboo going about covering this story. It is weird. I am working on a substack piece on it. I am also writing a email to Lawton about why I thought his answer for True North not covering the Coutts Four was sorely lacking. Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... and keep on trucking.