The wall

[normiss 641]

1 hour ago, GeorgiaDon said:

After that speech I really think people should be questioning whether the president has dementia.  He spent the first six minutes rambling on about trade talks with China, then more minutes on trade with the UK, then he called his own border patrol and justice department liars for claiming that the great majority of drugs come through legal ports of entry.  He spent several minutes lamenting the fact that we don't automatically execute anyone caught dealing drugs.  He really seems to get a hard on about killing people.  He went on and on repeating the lie about how building a wall cut violent crime in El Paso.  Somewhere in all of that, he spent about three sentences to announce a declaration of a national emergency so he can build his wall.  He said nothing about the sources of the money, how he is going to steal it from the military and hurricane relief.  

Now he is off for a long weekend of golf.  If there really is a national emergency, then how in hell does he have time for golf?  Even GW Bush didn't go golfing the day after 9/11.

Don

“I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather to do it much faster.”

Soooo....it's not really an emergency.

His full speech could get this tossed out of court with a quickness.

 

Edited February 15, 2019 by normiss
I'm an idiot sometimes

[billvon 2,467]

3 minutes ago, normiss said:

“I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather to do it much faster.”

" . . . I could do the wall over a longer period of time."

That makes it - not an emergency.

When he made his "shithole countries" comment, it was cited by the judge who struck down his travel ban.  He just admitted that there is no emergency, and the only reason he declared one is that he'd "rather" do it faster, and that it could be done just as easily over a longer period of time.  This too will be cited by the judge in the upcoming case.

[nigel99 151]

5 hours ago, ryoder said:

The goal is to get Trump's stupidest voters to say "HE'S FIGHTING!" No he's not.  If he signs this bill, it's over.

No, the goal of a national emergency is for Trump to scam the stupidest people in his base for 2 more years.

 

-- Both Tweets from Ann Coulter.

I wonder where Trump will go as the right wing starts to abandon him? 

Maybe the whole 25th will come into play?

[billvon 2,467]

1 hour ago, nigel99 said:

I wonder where Trump will go as the right wing starts to abandon him? 

Maybe the whole 25th will come into play?

Maybe.  His bizarre and incoherent speech today moves us a little closer to that point.  Even the right wing is starting to (quietly) part ways with him.  Susan Collins: "Such a declaration would undermine the role of Congress and the appropriations process."  Rand Paul is "not in favor . . .revenue raising and spending power was given to Congress.” Lisa Murkowski said that she didn't "think this is a matter that should be declared a national emergency.”  Chuck Grassley said “I wish he wouldn’t have done it."

The speech itself was just . . . . odd.  He started off by coming out of the White House seeming a little confused. Then he started off by NOT talking about the emergency - instead he talked about China and trade. He thinks things are going well with China. "But who knows what that means?" he asked the audience.

Then he talked about the UK, then Syria, then North Korea for a bit. Then without any transition he started talking about the border. Which made people think he was going to talk about the emergency he was declaring - but no, back to the economy. Then the stock market. Then the border again. Then he reminisced about how much fun he had at the El Paso rally and how he was a bit annoyed at all the factinistas who pointed out that crime really didn't drop when they put up the wall. But he asked some people at his rally and they say it did.

Then Israel.

Then he finally got back to the reason for the conference. “So, I’m going to be signing a national emergency, it’s been signed many times before.” Then he said it was no big deal. Then he said it was really important. Then he used some crime victims to try to prove his point.

Then he said he didn't need to declare an emergency. "I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn't need to do this. But I'd rather do it much faster.”

Then he mentioned that the wall wouldn't always work.  It _should_ work "99.9 percent. That's what it would be with us, too. The only weakness is they go to a wall and then they go around the wall. They go around the wall and in. OK? That's what it is, very simple."  So the wall will work 99.9%.  Unless they go around it and use, say, border checkpoints.  Which they do now.

Then he launched into his really odd and recurring fantasy of "three, four women" tied up with duct tape on their mouths. The border patrol has been looking of any indication that this is a real thing, and so far have found nothing. Odd.

Then he started talking about how much better China is than the United States because they have a death penalty for people who sell drugs. But here in the US law enforcement is ineffective; "they sit around a table, they have lunch, they eat, they dine and they waste a lot of time." Note that his "emergency" will take funds away from drug smuggling enforcement. (And for military family housing.)

During the Q+A, a reporter asked him if he was worried that taking money from drug enforcement would cause the problems he claims to want to solve. Trump said that a general tried to explain all that to him but "it didn’t sound too important to me.”

Another reporter asked him where he got his stats.  He said Homeland Security.  The reporter pointed out that Homeland Security had actually said the opposite.  Trump then said he used "many stats."

Then he claimed that he should have won the Nobel Peace Prize instead of Obama. Then he left to go golfing.  Because there's an emergency.

I get the feeling that there's a lot of republicans with their mouths hanging open today thinking "where the hell do we go from here?"

[JerryBaumchen 1,077]

1 hour ago, billvon said:

 "where the hell do we go from here?"

Hi Bill,

Trump today, reminds me of a lame-duck president.  IMO Nancy Pelosi is in control ( she has never been more powerful ) and Mitch McConnell is nowhere to be found ( Mitch who? ).

Trump will function as a landed fish, floundering around & with no control.

Jerry Baumchen

[Phil1111 936]

16 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said:

and Mitch McConnell is nowhere to be found ( Mitch who? ). ...Jerry Baumchen

He's busy eating a sandwich:

"Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) told CNN on Friday that ... “You’re watching Mitch McConnell eat a manure sandwich in this whole process," Rogers said, adding that McConnell was most concerned with averting another government shutdown "

Physicians suggest indigestion as a possibility.

Former GOP House Intel chair: McConnell eating 'manure sandwich' with Trump's national emergency

[TriGirl 278]

Speaking of McConnell...

Someone on the news this morning said McConnell gave Trump the idea to take this budget deal, then declare a national emergency for the rest.  Anyone else see reporting of the like?

[jclalor 12]

Call me crazy, but I think Putin is the driving force to get this wall built.

[wolfriverjoe 1,366]

10 hours ago, jclalor said:

Call me crazy, but I think Putin is the driving force to get this wall built.

Maybe. 

Sowing divisiveness, spending stupid amounts of money on worthless projects, distracting us from what's going on elsewhere, those all benefit Putin.

 

But I think the real driver is his ego. He refuses to admit he's wrong. He needs the illegals to be his "demon" to whip up hatred (despite the fact that he hires a lot of them). 

And his base (the 'alt-right') really thing this is a good idea. They think it will help. 

Reality isn't their strong suit.

[billvon 2,467]

12 hours ago, jclalor said:

Call me crazy, but I think Putin is the driving force to get this wall built.

I don't think Putin cares one bit about the wall.

I think Putin is VERY happy that Trump is dividing and weakening the USA.

[Phil1111 936]

38 minutes ago, billvon said:

I don't think Putin cares one bit about the wall.

I think Putin is VERY happy that Trump is dividing and weakening the USA.

President Putin is very happy with the wall. His puppet used it to:

- Shutdown the US government for 35 days and cost $7 billion to the US economy.

- Sow divisions with the American public

- Expand the racist divisions in America

- Allow his puppet to use the wall as a rallying cry for the 2020 elections.

-Allow his puppet to continue to distract the work of the state.

Which allows President Putin to:

A. Continue Russian interests in Syria

B. Distract America from dealing with the annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

C. Continue its meddling in the EU and the US with impunity from a concerted US response.

D. Have a good laugh at America.

 

[gowlerk 1,952]

Finally, courtesy of the Beeb. Proof of the emergency.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVa4_2xXwGE

 

[billvon 2,467]

On 2/16/2019 at 10:19 AM, Phil1111 said:

President Putin is very happy with the wall. His puppet used it to:

- Shutdown the US government for 35 days  . . . .

 

And he would have been just as happy if Trump had declared war on China or had Mueller and his whole team arrested.  He doesn't care about the details.  He cares about the harm Trump does to the US.

[Coreece 190]

On 2/16/2019 at 1:19 PM, Phil1111 said:

- Sow divisions with the American public

America has more or less been divided for a long time now over a variety of issues.

It's seems the biggest division recently is within his own base:

https://www.dropzone.com/forums/topic/265064-the-wall/?do=findComment&comment=4855740

Ann Coulter:

The goal is to get Trump's stupidest voters to say "HE'S FIGHTING!" No he's not.  If he signs this bill, it's over.

No, the goal of a national emergency is for Trump to scam the stupidest people in his base for 2 more years.

 

[wolfriverjoe 1,366]

Well. they are revealing where the 'emergency' funds are going to come from.

Once source is DoD funding for the military. 
Funds intended for housing & schools for military dependents.

Yes, Trump is going to use funds intended to build schools to build the stupid wall.

Worse yet, his sycophants are supporting this.

 

Lindsay Graham says that kids in Kentucky need secure borders more than a new school.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-kentucky-school-border_n_5c69ef82e4b01757c36ca404?utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&utm_source=main_fb&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3IobngRX-B2cAArtqa5xZLyPiiu80St0U4sQ8w2AQW5n6K1Le37XkCXMw

 

On the positive side, apparently people are surviving the emergency. It's a struggle, but people are tough.

https://cheezburger.com/7764229/twitter-users-are-having-fun-talking-about-how-theyre-currently-surviving-during-this-national?fbclid=IwAR3_SFmgtiUrsPcSLnWj80CLninRizu5V_RM4h6rQJygJaxXh7KEvnlYvo4

Edited February 19, 2019 by wolfriverjoe

[kallend 1,673]

2 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Well. they are revealing where the 'emergency' funds are going to come from.

Once source is DoD funding for the military. 
Funds intended for housing & schools for military dependents.

Yes, Trump is going to use funds intended to build schools to build the stupid wall.

Worse yet, his sycophants are supporting this.

 

Lindsay Graham says that kids in Kentucky need secure borders more than a new school.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-kentucky-school-border_n_5c69ef82e4b01757c36ca404?utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&utm_source=main_fb&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3IobngRX-B2cAArtqa5xZLyPiiu80St0U4sQ8w2AQW5n6K1Le37XkCXMw

 

 

"We don't need no education......"

[wolfriverjoe 1,366]

22 minutes ago, kallend said:

"We don't need no education......"

You have repeatedly said that Trump loves the uneducated, Professor.

Apparently, he's now taking steps to create more of them.

[billvon 2,467]

4 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

You have repeatedly said that Trump loves the uneducated, Professor.

Apparently, he's now taking steps to create more of them.

It's a win-win.  Kids lose their schools, and can avoid the pain of learning math, history, science and spelling - and Trump gets more voters.  

Besides, what does the GOP need with new voters who believe in the elitist propaganda about evolution, climate change, the round-Earth theory, vaccines and how to balance a budget?

[DJL 232]

12 hours ago, kallend said:

Well. they are revealing where the 'emergency' funds are going to come from.

Once source is DoD funding for the military. 
Funds intended for housing & schools for military dependents.

Yes, Trump is going to use funds intended to build schools to build the stupid wall.

Worse yet, his sycophants are supporting this.

Having grown up on and worked on military bases I can tell you that those are two funding areas that already don't have enough money.  If anything I'm surprised to have not yet seen an emergency declared to fund the dilapidated state of much military housing.

[wolfriverjoe 1,366]

17 minutes ago, DJL said:

Having grown up on and worked on military bases I can tell you that those are two funding areas that already don't have enough money.  If anything I'm surprised to have not yet seen an emergency declared to fund the dilapidated state of much military housing.

That would require actually caring about the military, the soldiers and their families.

 

Despite all of the 'military worship' that is currently fashionable, I don't see much evidence that anyone in power actually cares about them. 

 

Lots of lip service, no action.

[Stumpy 256]

Oh no they don't care about actual people, just multi billion dollar, un-needed equipment.

[ryoder 1,408]

CNN: 13 million worth of meth found in trailer with frozen strawberries at Texas port

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/us/texas-port-meth-strawberries/index.html

Now see, a wall could have stopped this...oh wait...it was at a port of entry;  Never mind.

Gustavo Fring unavailable for comment.

[normiss 641]

2 hours ago, ryoder said:

CNN: 13 million worth of meth found in trailer with frozen strawberries at Texas port

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/us/texas-port-meth-strawberries/index.html

Now see, a wall could have stopped this...oh wait...it was at a port of entry;  Never mind.

Gustavo Fring unavailable for comment.

That's methed up. Man.

[billvon 2,467]

Trump is already living up to his promises about the wall!  Ann Coulter will love him again!

Or  . . . not.

===============

With a legal fight challenge mounting from state governments over the Trump administration's use of a national emergency to construct at the U.S.-Mexico border, the president has kicked his push for the barrier into high gear.

On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted a time-lapse video of wall construction in New Mexico; the next day, he proclaimed that "THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW"

But there's a big problem: The footage, which was filmed more than five months ago on Sep. 18, 2018, isn't really new wall construction at all, and certainly not part of the ongoing construction of "the wall" that Trump has been haggling with Congress over.

"It's a replacement project," Mike Petersen, public affairs director for the Army Corps of Engineers' South Pacific Division, told Task & Purpose. "I was in the division 12 years ago and we were doing border wall replacement work back then."

The footage shows work on the Santa Theresa Project Border Wall Replacement Project, a push to upgrade a 20-mile stretch of pre-existing vehicle barriers to bollard-style fence, Peterson told Task & Purpose.

==============

https://taskandpurpose.com/trump-wall-construction-twitter-video

[Coreece 190]

Dan Crenshaw Fox and Friends, lol:

"This vote was effectively about whether or not this is an emergency.  That essentially was the question being asked during the vote.  Ok, I was just down at the border the last couple weeks.  Uh, it's definitely an emergency.  When I was there, there was at least a thousand apprehensions in ONE DAY!  A lot of these are children being dragged across the border.  That absolutely constitutes a crisis and an emergency."

 

I'm going to start watching that show more often, it's hilarious.