There were more twists...

...than a Tarantino movie. A couple of 9/11 Truther whackos who had fallen from the limelight recently seem to have come together in a scam plot. Billed as a chance to get truckers together to roll on DC and protest such things as highway regulations and the high cost of fuel, the event promised a "strength in numbers" show of force that would bring light to their issues. Many truckers seem to have let emotion rather than common sense dictate their participation in the event. 

When you follow a group of radical whackos, people tend to label you as a radical whacko. Zeeda Andrews, the lizard lady who thinks Osama Bin Laden is the President of the US, came together with Pete Santilli, an independent underground radio host who's main aspiration in life seems to be to shoot Hillary Clinton in the vagina over Benghazi, to organize this massive protest for the truckers. Truckers far and near agreed to protest. A donation fund was set up to provide fuel for participating truckers, and all seemed to be in order. It is speculated that as much as $500,000 was contributed to this protest.

With all that money sitting in a fund with limited access, greed could easily take over. That's exactly what seems to have happened. "But if the truckers come out in force, we'll have to spend the money on them. We can't have that!" seems to be the logical thinking of those who wanted the money themselves.

Enter Earl Conlon. Conlon went online promising that the trucker protest would roll on DC in an effort to serve President Obama with impeachment papers and arrest Congressional leaders whom he felt violated their oaths of office and the US Constitution. "US News and World Report", as planned, ran with this aspect of the story (they later retracted, as truth came to light.) Of course, it also got the attention of DC law enforcement and the Secret Service. Though Conlon later denied any truth in his comments and said it was only to get a media response, the damage had been done.

Many committed truck drivers dropped out of the protest. The organizers had no way of knowing how many would still come, and again, they couldn't have truckers spending the money on the cause in which it was donated for. They needed to scare more truckers away.

Enter Larry Klayman. Klayman would start the rumor that the President was going to use the National Guard to shut down the Beltway and effectively bring the planned protest to a halt. He figured that no trucker would be willing to be arrested, or to lose his or her truck or job. So more dropped out.

They had Santilli willing to inflate the numbers involved, and they could always blame lack of participation on the government scare tactics. Santilli could also exaggerate the numbers and the effect of the protest merely by again blaming a government-imposed media blackout. The heavy rains in the area on Friday and Saturday would again only force more truckers to drop out.

"But wait! There is this Ernest Lee guy. If we can't silence him, let's use him! He can be a powerful propaganda piece. He's the face of the frustrated trucker. Let's send him false reports and inflated numbers. Those behind the wheel will believe it if he says it's true!" And Lee played it perfectly. And the truckers and their followers ate it up!

Two days of the protest and of low numbers with no media coverage were explained away. But informed people were now starting to doubt the reports and question Santilli's honesty. What to do?

"There's a massive veterans' protest happening in DC. We can always play on Lee's patriotism. If we get him to go into the city, surely others will follow. We can then manipulate the truth, steal the thunder from the veterans, and make it look like they came out to support our event. If we can inflate the numbers of trucks involved, no one will question the amount of the donation money; they'll think it was spent on the truckers (even though they weren't there in enough numbers to have spent it all!)."

With no care or concern for the vets or their protest, a dozen or so trucks went to the WWII memorial, though event organizers, and Santilli, said it was 48. The truckers who went seem to have because they felt in their hearts it was the right thing to do. They still did not realize they were being used.

Law enforcement of course postured strong. Even though reports of the arresting of government officials was now being denied, they weren't taking any chances. Truckers began taunting the police on the scene, and riot police were called in. There was some pushing and shoving, but at the veterans' insistence, things remained relatively peaceful. Everyone went away feeling good about what they had done.

Only later would the truckers realize that it was a big hoax. Only later would they realize the money was gone. Only too late would they shift blame toward Andrews, Santilli, and Klayman. Santilli began hanging up on callers when questioned, shut down his broadcasts when overwhelmed, took over the Internet and social media sites for the event, and cut off all access to the donation fund.

That tells me all I need to know. 

General Ernest Lee is still touting the numbers and the success of the event. Only he knows why? Does he refuse to admit failure, or was he in on it all along? Or is he just reluctant to admit failure and see the truth?

I hope a serious investigation is launched by those who donated in good faith. I hope the truckers who came for the right reasons are compensated. I hope those guilty of foul play are made to pay. Most of all, I hope we all have learned a valuable lesson from this. Don't blindly follow, no matter how good the cause sounds. Check out the history of those at the top. If it sounds to good to be true, it most likely is. Don't be afraid to ask questions, either. The only dumb question is the one that is not asked.