The Beautiful Wall
Although Trump keeps telling us about his beautiful wall along the border, I have doubts it will be any more beautiful than a toad.
The Texas Observer announced that Trump is already trying to condemn private property along the border.
Noel Benavidez, a former Roma city councilperson, said he received a condemnation notice about two weeks ago for 5.8 acres of his land. … Benavidez and his wife own 155 acres of an original Spanish land grant deeded to their family in 1767 by the King of Spain. Benavidez said that he and others in Roma are deadset against a border wall in their backyard. “Once the land is destroyed, it will never be the same,” he said. “We have oaks and mesquite that have been there for generations, foxes and other animals and an ecosystem that has been untouched.”
Come to find out, Trump plans to hire 20 government lawyers to fight the lawyers that the landowners have hired. This has become a lawyer full employment measure.
The Observer has a nifty little graph explaining how it’s gonna take 50 or 60 rocket scientists and brain surgeons to figure out how to build the damn wall. You can’t wall a shared river, a canyon, or the second largest lake in Texas.
One other thing, people grounded in reality say that Trump’s estimate of $2.6 billion to build the wall is comical. It’s more that $21.6 billion and not a dime of it will come from Mexico.
I hate to deny Trump the joy he takes in harassing these families along the border and spending money like a drunken sailor, but it’s gotta stop.
Let’s ask Trump whether it’s really a Pink Floyd homage: “All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall…”
1I’ve seen hints that even the GOP in Congress aren’t ALL crazy enough to let this go through.
2This is just another damn land grab by a robber baron who snot nosed his way into the White House and thinks that gives him the right to pick everyone’s pocket (except him and his good 1$ buddies, that is.). Just watch SCOTUS get involved in this, tell him the hell no, and watch him roll on the floor kicking and screaming like a two year old in a tantrum!
3$2.6 billion to build a wall between two large countries? That’s laughable.
Remember when we were told the war in Afghanistan & Iraq wouldn’t cost a penny more than $1.9 billion, Shock & Awe included? What are we up to now? $3 trillion?
To put that in perspective of a purchase made by the average household:
A man decides to buy a new TV for March Madness. He promises his wife he’s got his eye on a real good set for $1,900. He returns from the store with a different model that costs $3 million.
4I have a feeling that Mr. Trump has never heard that expression, “Don’t Mess With Texas.”
5@Old Mayfly#5- I’ve always heard the ending to that aphorism as Yeah,Texas is messed up enough, as it is.I doubt tRUMPf has heard it either way, in New York City Texas, along with everyplace else West of the East river, is fly-over country.
62.6 billion is just an appetizer for the first year. Next year is another 2 plus billion appetizer.
OT- i read in a local newzpaper that congressweasel King is getting high support for his racist remarks. Color me hornswoggled by gawd as ever. I did not realize there were that many white supremacists in iowa-let alone the western half.
7Please do not malign toads!
If you want to compare the ugliness of the wall to something, why not something truly ugly. Like, say, Mitch McConnell. Kellyanne. Or Steve Bunion. Lots of really hideous things to choose from who are not only ugly, but also evil.
8EPO, I’ve been to Iowa but I pretty much stayed in the part along the big river where there seems to be a whale of a lot of people and more diversity as those towns are also ports. That may mean they have been exposed to people form other countries speaking other languages and by gawd it didn’t hurt one darn bit. I have not been to the far western end but given the isolation factor the farther west you go, I’m not surprised at the racism. Thats what living in a vacuum will do to ya.
9maggie says:
Thats what living in a vacuum will do to ya.
maggie, to steal and paraphrase a line from Senator Al Franken:
People in Nebraska say western Iowa sucks.
10People in big river Iowa say they blow.
O/T as well, but with some good news for Iowa. There’s a solid challenger to Steve King. She might have beat him last time, but received no support from the usual party suspects.
Kim Weaver is #5 on our “pick six” list. Defeat Steve King in Iowa.
11What about the part that they want to go through Big Bend National Park.
How much more of this country is going to be destroyed before we can put a stop to the destruction of so much that makes it America?
12Meh. I’m willing to finance a section of concrete wall 5x6x7′ if Donnie agrees to personally inspect it’s construction and sign a waiver of liability for any accident that might befall him.
13Geez. “Its” not the contraction it’s for it is. My already minimal keyboard skills go completely awry, when the dopamine centers are flooded.
14$21.6 billion is on the low side. That assumes a 20 ft high standard freestanding reinforced concrete wall. The requirements as listed call for a 30′ wall that cannot be broken through in less than an hour, so add another 25-50% for that.
Then add security cameras every 50 ft or so and personnel to watch them.
And add bases for fast reaction forces for ICE personnel that can reach any point of the wall within an hour.
And add manning requirements for those fast reaction forces, probably on a 3 day on/4 day off schedule.
And don’t forget maintenance costs. As a rule of thumb, we should expect to spend the amount of the initial investment every 7-10 years.
So, after spending $40 billion initially and $6-8 billion/yr in manning and maintenance, we should be grateful that no Mexican has Amazon Prime and so won’t be able to get free shipping on the 28′ ladder ($328) Amazon Warehouse deal.
15When you consider that the majority of the US borders are not on land, seems to me like people get around the wall via boat. Scumbags are making big money getting refugees into the US (sadly). The scumbags will just put the refugees on questionable watercraft, like is happening in the Mediterranean.
16I’m thinking the survey will take 5 years.
17Well, everyone, if cockwomble in chief is so hot and bothered to have his wall, let him and his billionaire cabinate foot the bill for construction and maintenance. Surprise! Is cockwomble had to spend his money that wall wouldn’t be so great a deal. And if all his little cockwombles had to spend their money for maintenance that damn wall would die a quick death. Hey, congress critters! We the tax payers are fed up with idiots like you squandering OUR tax dollars. This money isn’t yours you morons! It belongs to the people and we expect those funds spent on programs that benefit US not some delusional idiot in the White House who is too stupid to know how to do anything but tweet.
18I’m just surprised Trump doesn’t want to make his wall “classier” by putting all the names of Muslims he’s discriminated against and immigrants he’s deported on it.
Oh, and put his name on top in huge, gold letters.
19The US government spent $1 billion on a “virtual fence” along the Arizona border under Bush Jr., search how well that money was spent. Hint it did not work even after it was given a fancy name; SBInet. The total projected cost was $7 billion and this did not include a fence or a wall.
20Ahhh time for a quote or two from St Ronald of Reagan…
“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
‘This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.’ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.”
St Ronnie addressed Sec’y Gen Gorbachev.
Change the quote up a but and it addresses Hair Drumpf. But only if Hair Drumpf seeks peace and prosperity for his country as well. Unless of course he was born in the Soviet Union. After all, I have never seen his long form birth certificate. I wouldn’t know for sure, would I?
21Mr. Trump is so ignorant about so many things that I have concluded that he is just generally stupid.
22http://www.gq.com/story/steve-king-bad-at-his-job
23Trump has long happily condemned private property so he could build his stupid towers…happily kicked elderly people out of their houses, off their land, using the full resources of whatever place he was in to help, by bribing the politicians.
He’s not going to care about the Benavidez family, of course, and neither will any of his appointed goons, because (gasp) they’re (horror) “Mexicans.” (Actually, they’re Spaniards, because they hold what little land they have left direct from Spain (or, in some cases, can prove their ancestors had a Spanish land grant even thought it was stolen by whites after the Texas Revolution. Local distinction known in some parts of Texas and proudly maintained by those who can claim it.)
So the rest of us ought to care about them more, and support their attempt not to be ripped off again.
24I refuse to live in a penitentiary; if DJT likes to hide behind walls so much let him block up the windows at the trump tower and stay there for the rest of his miserable life.
25