The Wall

[EdEarl]

If Trump does actually get funding for the Immigration Wall, the next time a Democrat is elected, the wall can be dismantled. Twice, Dems have put solar collectors on the White House, and the next Rep admin have removed them. Turn about is fair.

[StringJunky]

Your title reminded me of the Floyd album. Remind you of anyone?

 

 

The Wall - In The Flesh

 

...Are there any queers in the theater tonight?

Get them up against the wall!

There's one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me,

Get him up against the wall!

That one looks Jewish!

And that one's a coon!

Who let all of this riff-raff into the room?

There's one smoking a joint,

And another with spots!

If I had my way,

I'd have all of you shot!

....

[EdEarl]

Your title reminded me of the Floyd album. Remind you of anyone?

 

Mikhail Gorbachev and the demise of the Berlin Wall.

[StringJunky]

Mikhail Gorbachev and the demise of the Berlin Wall.

Yes, but the lyrics I quoted are reminiscent of republican intolerance to minorities.

Edited March 1, 2017 by StringJunky

[EdEarl]

Yes, but the lyrics I quoted are reminiscent of republican intolerance to minorities.

Yes, a great post.

[StringJunky]

Concerning the OP: the tit-for-tat reversals are ridiculous.

[EdEarl]

Politics brings out the worst and occasionally the best in people.

[Phi for All]

This has always been such a non-issue with me. I grew up taking family excursions down into Mexico, driving trailers and motor homes down to spend summers on the beach. Mexicans and Canadians hardly seem "foreign" to me.

 

Has anyone seen statistics about illegal immigrants in other countries with borders on ally states? Does the US have a statistically higher rate of illegal immigrants? Is it significant enough to warrant such a hideous and questionably effective expense?

[Ten oz]

Building a wall is akin to creating a new govt agency because maintenance costs for any construction is a few percent of initial building costs per year at a minimum. There would be permanent maintenance costs for the life on the wall that would be a billions per year. Thatbis an enormous amount of money to combat a problem which doesn't exist and/or a wall wouldn't solve if it did.

 

Thankfully we have time. Not all the land on the border is federal property. Some of the areas a wall would go are State own and some is privately own. Additionally much of the land construction crews would need to use staging equipment and transporting items isn't federal controlled either. So there will be years of court battles prior to a clear blueprint for a wall can come together. The cost of those battles alone will most likely sour congresses taste for giving the wall funding.

 

I believe we end up with Trump getting a few billion out of Congress in the short term to upgrade existing fencing where projects are ready while the grand dream of a wall gets locked up in court through his Presidency. There won't be any reason for Trump to press too hard because the majority of the population (Democrat and Republican) think the wall is a stupid idea.

[iNow]

Building a wall is akin to creating a new govt agency

This one could be called the Department of Scapegoats

[Airbrush]

"A great, great wall" seems like an absurd premise, and Trump never gets into specifics of what exactly he means by a "great, great wall". How can so many Republicans applaud like brain-dead when Trump repeats his "great, great wall" mantra? Something big and beautiful like the great wall of China? Or just enough of a barrier to discourage illegal border crossing? Just replace flimsy fencing with an upgrade and use smart sensors. Have the double fence with a roadway between for patrol. When sensors detect people approaching the fence, it alerts the local patrol to intercept before the barrier can be bypassed.

 

https://doctorbulldog.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/border-fence.jpg

[Sensei]

"A great, great wall" seems like an absurd premise, and Trump never gets into specifics of what exactly he means by a "great, great wall".

Great = great waste of money...

 

It will be easy to bypass it, through sea, on boats, if needed. Like in Florida.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Sensei

[EdEarl]

There are already tunnels between Mexico and the US.

[John Cuthber]

About 2/3 of the Mexicans illegally present in the US got there by plane.

Also, they are doing no harm, but contributing to the US economy.

So the wall the the wrong answer to the wrong question.

 

How come so many people swallowed the idea?

[Argent]

How come so many people swallowed the idea?

For some people it is convenient to blame others for ones troubles

[Phi for All]

This is one of the many reasons everything in the US costs so much more than anywhere else. The corruption on public projects is a national disgrace. If this gets approval, it's going to be the People's taxes paying for a hideously expensive boondoggle that will line the pockets of every contractor the WH owes favors to. This seems like another vivid example of fleecing the sheep, and this time the wolves are claiming it's to keep dragons out.

 

This is a goddamn body cast to treat a broken toe. It also seems to me to be a pretty obvious push to shift some heavy investments back into favor, just like all the maneuvering with trade deals and pipelines. WH obviously doesn't profit from business in Mexico, so they're being frozen out. The wall lets the WH kill four birds with one stone (I'm betting he touts the wall as infrastructure improvements as well as border enforcement), since it also appeals to racist WH supporters.

[Ten oz]

This is one of the many reasons everything in the US costs so much more than anywhere else. The corruption on public projects is a national disgrace. If this gets approval, it's going to be the People's taxes paying for a hideously expensive boondoggle that will line the pockets of every contractor the WH owes favors to. This seems like another vivid example of fleecing the sheep, and this time the wolves are claiming it's to keep dragons out.

 

This is a goddamn body cast to treat a broken toe. It also seems to me to be a pretty obvious push to shift some heavy investments back into favor, just like all the maneuvering with trade deals and pipelines. WH obviously doesn't profit from business in Mexico, so they're being frozen out. The wall lets the WH kill four birds with one stone (I'm betting he touts the wall as infrastructure improvements as well as border enforcement), since it also appeals to racist WH supporters.

Conservatives, their ideology, has failed. Their tax cuts, foreign interventions, anti science positions, and etc all failures. It is conservatives policies that led to our economic collapse in 2008. Conservative policies that almost caused GM and Chrysler to go under. Conservative policies that saw 401Ks shrink and home values shrink. Rather than rethinking their policies they instead have chose to rethink reality. Forget a body cast to treat a broken toe. They give us chemo to treat cancers we don't have. Illegal immigration is at net zero and has been for a few years. It isn't a problem. Yet conservative want a crack down. The goal is to keep us all divided. Keep us so concerned with each other we don't notice the smoke stacks, plastic islands in the Pacific, millionaire Judges that own stock in private prisons, and etc. Trump was born and raised in the 0.1%. He literally has gold platted sinks and toilets. He flies around in private helicopters and jets telling rural white males that Mexico, women's rights, and BLM is the enemy. Meanwhile his sons are closing deals in UAE and his daughter is having her clothing line produced overseas. It is sad. The anti climate and anti evolution crowd is now anti reality in general. A silver spoon businessman who literally ran casinos into the ground is a populist savior. If I wrote this as a fantasy it would be called too silly.

[swansont]

 

How come so many people swallowed the idea?

 

 

Xenophobia, same as with BREXIT. Immigrants are a convenient scapegoat for the ills of society. They are the Schrödinger's cat of excuses: the immigrants are simultaneously lazy and thus a drain on society, while they are also going to take your job. That this makes no sense and factually incorrect doesn't matter since the primary goal of being afraid has been met.