The Wall

[O Really]

Hell, I bet he could just say he built a wall and take some photos of "a wall" and his idiot believers would fall for it. May as well stick with the lying.

I'm surprised he hasn't. Seriously. He has claimed to have "started" somewhere. And he could pass off pics of the prototypes as real, as long as somebody could take pictures when nobody was sport-climbing over it.

[GoCubsGo]

Hell, I bet he could just say he built a wall and take some photos of "a wall" and his idiot believers would fall for it. May as well stick with the lying.

I'm surprised he hasn't. Seriously. He has claimed to have "started" somewhere. And he could pass off pics of the prototypes as real, as long as somebody could take pictures when nobody was sport-climbing over it.

Kinda like that 115 mile wall "contract" he awarded in Texas.

[Vrede too]

Hell, I bet he could just say he built a wall and take some photos of "a wall" and his idiot believers would fall for it. May as well stick with the lying.

I'm surprised he hasn't. Seriously. He has claimed to have "started" somewhere. And he could pass off pics of the prototypes as real, as long as somebody could take pictures when nobody was sport-climbing over it.

He has.

‘No, Mr. President – There Is Not A Wall in San Antonio’

When presenting his proposal for an agreement on wall funding last Saturday, President Trump spoke about the effectiveness of security walls and highlighted San Antonio as an example of an unsafe city that is now safe because they built a wall. San Antonio, the seventh largest city in the U.S., is one of the safest large cities in the country and they did not build a wall.

On June 22, 2017, by unanimous Council approval, San Antonio became an official Compassionate City, one of more than 70 recognized around the world. Along with compassion education, encouraging participation across sectors and intentional policy-making that is compassionate, the resolution includes “recognizing, recording and celebrating acts of compassion among members of the San Antonio community.” The Charter for Compassion states, “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.”



... San Antonio’s compassion on behalf of immigrants is a collaborative citywide effort. Two years ago at Christmas time, unannounced, ICE dropped 500 immigrants off at a church. IWC Volunteers were called and the city was immediately contacted. Human Services provided cots and food for everyone and the police and fire departments provided safety surrounding the church for the time it took to send the immigrants off to their destinations.

San Antonio, located 150 miles from the border, doesn’t have ‘a’ wall, Mr. President. Rather, it is a city of many walls that bespeak a different set of values; ones of compassion, welcome and a belief that we are one at the core of who we are as a human family.

Interesting take:

This Isn't a Border Wall: It's a Monument to White Supremacy
Like Confederate monuments, President Trump’s vision of a massive wall along the Mexican border is about propaganda and racial oppression, not national security.

[O Really]

Funny when Trump's looking for wall examples he doesn't use the Berlin wall, which actually did work, somewhat. "Between 1961 and 1989 the Wall prevented almost all such emigration.[from East/West Germany] During this period over 100,000 people attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin."

A 5% success rate of crossing should be acceptable to Trump, I'd think.

[GoCubsGo]

Funny when Trump's looking for wall examples he doesn't use the Berlin wall, which actually did work, somewhat. "Between 1961 and 1989 the Wall prevented almost all such emigration.[from East/West Germany] During this period over 100,000 people attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin."

A 5% success rate of crossing should be acceptable to Trump, I'd think.

Of course having men armed with machine guns is also a pretty good deterrent.

[neoplacebo]

Yeah, something like the Berlin wall might satisfy them; they could also cut down on Border Patrol labor costs by laying a mine field along the border; after all, it's a fucking national emergency, right ? I can see it now....Trump and Pence(grinning like a cat eating shit) taking all the credit and basking in the glory of it all.

[Vrede too]

Send a thank-you note to Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer. Let them know how grateful you are for their strong leadership during the shutdown.

[Vrede too]

Government shutdown costs the economy $11 billion, significantly dings Q1 GDP growth, CBO estimates

Thanks, Trumpettes, we'll add this to the bill for the wall that Mexico is NEVER going to pay.

[Vrede too]

The first positive I've heard about his idiotic and failed shutdown:

Elephant seals take over California beach during U.S. shutdown



Way cool. There's another beach south of SF where people can get very close to them.

[GoCubsGo]

This will be enjoyable. Turtleneck has to bring it to the floor for a vote if passed by the House.

McConnell (R-Ky.) told Trump that Congress might end up passing a resolution disapproving the emergency declaration, the people said — which would force the president to contemplate issuing his first veto ever, in the face of opposition from his own party.

[GoCubsGo]

Yep

[GoCubsGo]

[neoplacebo]

Trump says he wants 5.7 billion dollars for 200 miles of border barrier. I looked around for cost estimates to build roads and found that on average it costs about 4 to 6 million dollars per mile to build a new 4 lane road in a rural area and 8 to 10 million in an urban area. This would include at grading of land to ensure adequate drainage as well as the cost of clearing land if needed. But this wall, which I understand is to be constructed in a pretty much flat rural area costs 28.5 million dollars a mile. I guess those construction guys will be getting Trump steaks and commuting from Trump hotels hundreds of miles away each day. It's just awesome to contemplate such a grand project.

[Vrede too]

Trump says he wants 5.7 billion dollars for 200 miles of border barrier. I looked around for cost estimates to build roads and found that on average it costs about 4 to 6 million dollars per mile to build a new 4 lane road in a rural area and 8 to 10 million in an urban area. This would include at grading of land to ensure adequate drainage as well as the cost of clearing land if needed. But this wall, which I understand is to be constructed in a pretty much flat rural area costs 28.5 million dollars a mile. I guess those construction guys will be getting Trump steaks and commuting from Trump hotels hundreds of miles away each day. It's just awesome to contemplate such a grand project.

The gold plated "Trump Wall" plaques every 50 yards drive the price up.

[GoCubsGo]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
4h
....Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security. Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!

Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
43m
I want to thank all Republicans for the work you have done in dealing with the Radical Left on Border Security. Not an easy task, but the Wall is being built and will be a great achievement and contributor toward life and safety within our Country!

.....So, I guess he's just declaring victory and moving on?????????.....

[Vrede too]

Trump announces he's signing border bill and declaring national emergency to get wall funding

This "emergency" will be rejected by Congress, which it can do, or struck down by the courts, which they will do. Congress sets budgets, period. POSPOTUS doesn't care. He's not interested in achievements for America, just in the adoration of the rapidly shrinking minority Trumpettes. He'll either blame the "deep state" Dems and RINOs, or he'll blame the "liberal" courts.

[Vrede too]

'Dangerous precedent': U.S. Chamber joins conservative critics of Trump's emergency declaration

On paranoid, whiny and dishonest planet Trumpette. this means that the con U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports "open borders".


Since it's arising online a lot:

National emergencies are common; declaring one for a border wall is not

... experts say national emergencies have rarely been used in the way Trump intends.

Trump declared an emergency Friday as a mechanism to unlock pots of federal money he can then use to build portions of a border barrier, a central promise of his 2016 campaign....

In 2009, President Barack Obama declared a state of national emergency for the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. That emergency, which expired a year later, allowed for waivers of some Medicare and Medicaid regulations – for example, permitting hospitals to screen or treat an infectious illness off-site – and to waive medical privacy laws.

Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said few would have disputed that a state of emergency existed after the 9/11 attacks. The president's emergency powers, she said, were conceived as a way to give the president the ability to act when Congress didn't have time to do so.

In the case of immigration or a border wall, Goitein said, Congress had plenty of time but chose not to act.

"This is a situation in which the powers are being used to get around the express will of Congress," she said. "That is particularly problematic." ...

[Vrede too]

Mike Pence's Old Warning About POTUS Bypassing Congress Comes Back To Haunt Him

[neoplacebo]

Mike Pence is the biggest argument in favor of not filing articles of impeachment against Trump. It's like trading Fire Marshal Bill for Ernest T Bass.

[Vrede too]

Mike Pence is the biggest argument in favor of not filing articles of impeachment against Trump. It's like trading Fire Marshal Bill for Ernest T Bass.

He could be ousted, too. If not also for collusion, for the obstruction and coverup. If not, he would still be an impotent caretaker POTUS until departing 1/20/21.